high banks so that the
enemy could not get around him.

When his men had taken their positions he spoke to them. He told them
that the hour had come when they were to make Scotland free or die as
they faced the foe. If the men did not like his conditions, he
continued, they were free to depart before the battle began.

But the Scots stood firm. Although they had an idea of the odds against
which they must fight, their confidence in their leader was so great
that they had no doubt in their minds that victory would be theirs.
Behind their rude fortifications, with sharpened pikes and swords, they
awaited grimly the coming of Edward's horsemen.

The battle opened in a curious manner. While Sir Thomas Randolph, one
of Bruce's kinsmen, was fighting with a body of English cavalry that
sought to outflank Bruce and make its way to Stirling Castle, Bruce
himself engaged in single combat with an English knight named Sir Henry
de Bohun. This knight had recognized Bruce as the latter rode up and
down in front of the line of Scottish warriors and spurring his horse
with lance in rest he charged at the Scotch King. Bruce was only
mounted on a small pony, while the Englishman rode a heavy charger--but
when the knight was upon him, Bruce, by a deft twist of the bridle,
avoided the deadly lance, and in another second had driven his battle
axe through the skull of his enemy with so mighty a blow that the
handle broke in his hand.

A great cheer rose from the Scottish ranks as they beheld this deed,
and with the greatest bravery they routed the English as they charged.
The English had not reckoned on such stubborn resistance from a force
far inferior to their own, both in size and equipment, and as the day
was waning they withdrew in good order, planning to hold a council of
war and gain the battle on the following day.

Early in the morning the Scots were in position, and with a great rush
of horses and men the English surged upon them. It was to no avail.
Again and again the flower of the English nobility charged the squares
of Scottish infantry and were driven back in confusion.

At last the English lines wavered and with a deafening cheer the Scots
rushed upon them. Pell mell the English retreated and the battle was
won. It is said that thirty thousand Englishmen were slain in this
encounter--a number equal to the total number of the Scottish army.

The victory that Bruce won at the battle of Bannockburn changed the
entire co