Wallace Retreats into Mountains
An English parliament was soon after appointed to meet at St Andrews, to which the king summoned the Scottish barons who had again come under his allegiance. This summons was obeyed by all except Sir Simon Fraser and Wallace ; and these two brave men, along with the garrison of Stirling, which still defied the efforts of the English, were declared outlaws by the vote, not only of the English barons, but with the extorted consent of their broken and dispirited countrymen.At length Fraser, despairing of being able again to rouse the spirit of the nation, consented to accept the hard conditions of fine and banishment offered him by the conqueror; and Wallace found himself standing alone against Edward, excepted from all amnesty, and inexorably marked for death. Surrounded by his enemies, he came from the fastnesses where he had taken refuge to the forest of Dunfermline, and,, by the mediation of his friends, proposed on certain conditions to surrender himself. These terms, however, partook more of the bold character of the mind which had never bowed to Edward, than of the spirit of a suppliant suing for pardon. When reported to Edward he broke out into ungovernable rage, cursed him by the fiend as a traitor, pronounced his malediction on all who sustained or supported him, and set a reward of three hundred marks upon his head. On hearing this, Wallace betook himself again to the wilds and mountains, and subsisted on plunder.