Having procured the necessary combustibles, Wallace, after disposing of his men, so as to prevent the escape of any of the English, set fire to the thatch, which being covered with pitch, the flames soon spread to every part of the buildings, and rose in one general conflagration; while the screaming wretches within vainly attempting to escape, were received on the points of the Scottish swords, and either killed, or forced back, to perish in the devouring element. It is said, that five hundred of the English suffered in this lamentable manner. The severity of the retaliation can only be palliated by the nature of the war the parties were engaged in, and the desperation to which the cruelty of the invaders had goaded on the wretched inhabitants. If tradition may be credited, Wallace did not remain till the flames were extinguished; for, when about two miles on his return, at an elevated part of the road, he is said to have made his men look back on the still blazing scene of their vengeance, remarking, at the same time, that “The barns of Ayr burn weel.” The ruins of a church are still to be seen on the spot where the chief and his followers stood to take their last look, and which is named from the circumstance, “_Burn weel Kirk_.”[92] CHAPTER X. WALLACE JOINED BY A NUMBER OF THE BARONS.--EXPEDITION TO THE WEST HIGHLANDS--BATTLE OF BRADHER, AND DEATH OF M’FADYAN.--AFFAIR OF GLASGOW.--DEFEAT AND FLIGHT OF BISHOP BEK. A.D. 1297. About this time Sir William Douglas took the Castles of Dresdier and Sanquhair, as already stated in the short notice we have given of his exploits. In conjunction with Wallace, this active and powerful baron, assuming the sanction of the name of Baliol, endeavoured to enforce the edict for the expulsion of the English ecclesiastics holding benefices in Scotland. This edict, issued between the time of the taking of Berwick and the Castle of Dunbar, had been rendered nugatory by the suppression of Scottish independence. It was now, however, executed with the utmost rigour, wherever the influence of the insurgents extended. In pursuance of this object, Wallace, at the head of three hundred choice cavalry, proceeded to Glasgow to dislodge Bishop Bek, who, with a garrison of one thousand men, kept possession of the town and episcopal castle, belonging to Robert Wishart, the Scottish Bishop of that place. As the Scots drew near the spot against which their operations were directed, Wallace divided his followers into two bands. Taking the command of one himself, he committed the other to the guidance of his uncle, the Laird of Auchinleck. “_Whether_,” said our hero to his gallant kinsman, “_do you choose to bear up the Bishop’s tail, or go forward and take his blessing._” Auchinleck at once understood the intended plan of attack, and proposed assailing the rear of the English, resigning the more honourable post to the merits of his nephew, “_who_,” as he jocularly observed, “_had not yet been confirmed_.”