Having effected their object, they sheltered themselves for the night in the neighbourhood of Dumbarton, and on the morrow proceeded towards the wilds of the Lomond. Here Wallace was joyfully received by Malcolm Earl of Lennox, who, with a number of his trusty tenantry, maintained, amid the fastnesses of that romantic district, a protracted, and sometimes a successful struggle, for their independence. This nobleman offered to place his followers under the command of Sir William, provided he would remain among them for the defence of the Lennox. His mind, however, was too deeply impressed with a desire for the general good of his country, to allow him to think of confining his exertions within the limits proposed. On explaining his plan of warfare to this worthy chieftain, he found no difficulty in gaining him over to his views, and inducing him to co-operate in extending the spirit of insurrection, as well as to create a more powerful diversion in favour of those who were already embarked in the cause. With this understanding, Wallace took his departure, accompanied by a number of his companions, who had resorted to him on discovering the place of his retreat. The mortification of Percy, on receiving the accounts of the capture of his baggage, was considerably increased by the subsequent proceedings of Wallace and his partisans. An express had just reached Glasgow, announcing the fate of the garrison of Gargunnock, when another made his appearance, giving an account of the slaughter of a party of English in the neighbourhood of Doune. Sir Raynald Crawford, who had been put under an arrest on suspicion of being concerned in the affair at Cathcart, was now ordered before the council, and, though he had been able to establish an _alibi_ with regard to the offence charged against him, yet, after being strictly interrogated as to his knowledge of his nephew’s places of concealment, he was forced to take an oath against affording him shelter, or holding any correspondence with him, directly or indirectly, so long as he remained under the ban of outlawry; he was also sworn to afford the English all the information in his power, in order that means might be taken for bringing him to punishment.