He sends by twos, he sends by threes,
He sends them all to learn;
He stands upon the stairs, and calls
But none of them return.
Wallace flung him forth down stairs;
And there the moonlight fell
Across the yard upon a sight,
That makes him seem in hell
Fawdon's headless trunk he sees,
With an arm in air,
Brandishing his bloody head
By the swinging hair.
Wallace with a stifled screech
Turn'd and fled amain,
Up the stairs, and through the bowers,
With a burning brain:
From a window Wallace leap'd
Fifteen feet to ground,
And never stopp'd till fast within
A nunnery's holy bound.
And then he turn'd, in gasping doubt,
To see the fiend retire,
And saw him not at hand, but saw
Castle Gask on fire.
All on fire was Castle Gask;
And on its top, endued
With the bulk of half a tower,
Headless Fawdon stood.
Wide he held a burning beam,
And blackly fill'd the light;
His body seem'd, by some black art,
To look at Wallace, heart to heart,
Threatening through the night.
Wallace that day week arose
From a feeble bed;
And gentle though he was before,
Yet now to orphans evermore
He gentlier bow'd his head.