It was now past midnight; and the flame that still lingered about the remains of the almost extinguished faggots, continued, at intervals, to throw its pale and flickering light on the ruinous walls of the castle, when Wallace was suddenly startled by the shadow of a human figure. Though broken and indistinct at first, yet the moon, which was slowly emerging from behind a cloud, rendered it every moment more apparent. From the feet to the shoulders, which was all of it that was visible, it seemed to be of uncommon dimensions; and what more particularly rivetted the attention of the forlorn chief, a human head hung dangling from its hand, in a manner that gave it the appearance of something supernatural. While gazing with intense anxiety on this singular object, its hand was slowly raised, and the head, which it held, after striking the helmet of Wallace, fell with considerable violence among the dying embers before him. Snatching it up, he discovered, by the light of the moon, the pale and ghastly features of the “ill-fated Fawdon;” and, turning towards the place from whence it was thrown, he observed the figure of a man endeavouring to descend by a broken part of the wall. In the excitement of the moment, he hurled the head after it, and, drawing his sword, hastened from the castle in pursuit of the strange intruder. Henry, or his authority, in narrating the above circumstance, gives way to the popular belief of his time, and describes it as the real apparition of the late faithless associate; but this evidently arises from that love for the marvellous peculiar to the age. When stripped of the poetical embellishments with which it is clothed, the story simply appears to have been this:--The English, on coming to the headless body of Fawdon, naturally conceived that the Scots had quarrelled among themselves; and some one thinking it probable, from the size, that the deceased might be Wallace, for whose head a considerable reward was offered, took care to secure the prize. The impatience of Butler for revenge made him think of a night-attack, provided they could discover the enemy; and the horns, therefore, which had been taken from those Scots who had fallen in the conflict, were made use of as a _ruse_ to entrap them into the belief, that it was a party of their countrymen coming to their assistance. The soldier, who had got the head into his possession, appears to have been one of the scouts sent in search of the fugitives; and no doubt, eager to ascertain the value of his capture, had ventured forward with more confidence than his companions. Disappointment at finding the Scottish chief alive, no doubt, induced him to throw the head; and the terror which his name inspired made him likewise think it prudent to effect his retreat.