At the dead hour of midnight, while the two friends lay fast asleep, the youth, whose turn it was to watch, cautiously removed the bugie from the neck of Wallace, and conveyed it, along with his arms, through an aperture in the wall; then slowly opening the door, two men-at-arms silently entered, and, seizing upon Kerlé, hurried him from the apartment, and instantly put him to death. Wallace, awakened by the noise, started to his feet, and, missing his weapons, became sensible of his danger, but grasping a large piece of oak, which had been used for a seat, he struck two of his assailants dead on the spot, and drove the rest headlong before him. Seeing the fury to which he was roused, and the difficulty they would have in taking him alive, Menteith now advanced, to the aperture, and represented to him the folly of resistance, as the English, he said, having heard of his place of resort, and of the plans he had in contemplation, were collected in too large a force to be withstood; that if he would accompany him a prisoner to Dumbarton, he would undertake for the safety of his person;--that all the English wished, was to secure the peace of the country, and to be free from his molestation;--adding, that if he consented to go with him, he should live in his own house in the castle, and he, Menteith, alone should be his keeper;--that even now, he would willingly sacrifice his life in his defence; but that his attendants were too few, and too ill-appointed, to have any chance of success in contending with the English. He concluded by assuring Wallace, that he had followed in order to use his influence with his enemies in his behalf, and that they had listened to him on condition of an immediate surrender; but that if he did not instantly comply, the house would soon be in flames about him. These, and other arguments, were urged with all the seeming sincerity of friendship; and our patriot, confiding in early recollections, and the private understanding that subsisted between them, allowed himself to be conducted to Dumbarton Castle. On the morrow, however, no Monteith appeared to exert his _influence_, in order to prevent the unfortunate hero from being carried from the fortress; and strongly fettered, and guarded by a powerful escort, under the command of Robert de Clifford and Aymer de Vallance, he was hurried to the South, by the line of road least exposed to the chance of a rescue. CHAPTER XII. TRIAL, EXECUTION, AND CHARACTER OF WALLACE.