that sterile land could raise no force to face this great array!

King Robert the Bruce did his utmost to prepare for the storm of war
which threatened to break upon his realm. In all haste he summoned his
barons and nobles from far and near. From the Highlands and the Lowlands
they came, from island and mainland flocked the kilted and tartaned
Scotch, but, when all were gathered, they numbered not a third the host
of their foes, and were much more poorly armed. But at their head was
the most expert military chief of that day, since the death of Edward I.
the greatest warrior that Europe knew. Once again was it to be proved
that the general is the soul of his army, and that skill and courage are
a full offset for lack of numbers.

Towards Stirling marched the great English array, confident in their
numbers, proud of their gallant show. Northward they streamed, filling
all the roads, the king, at their head, deeming doubtless that he was on
a holiday excursion, and that behind him came a wind of war that would
blow the Scotch forces into the sea. Around Stirling gathered the army
of the Bruce, marching in haste from hill and dale, coming in to the
stirring peal of the pipes and the old martial airs of the land, until
the plain around the beleaguered town seemed a living sea of men, and
the sunlight burned on endless points of steel.

But Bruce had no thought of awaiting the onset here. He well knew that
he must supply by skill what he lacked in numbers. The English army was
far superior to his, not only in men, but in its great host of cavalry,
which alone equalled his entire force, and in its multitude of archers,
the best bowmen in the world. What he lacked in men and arms he must
make up in brains. With this in view, he led his army from before the
town into a neighboring plain, called the Park, where nature had
provided means of defence of which he might avail himself.

The ground which his army here occupied was hard and dry. That in front
of it, through which Edward's host must pass, was wet and boggy, cut up
with frequent watercourses, and ill-fitted for cavalry. Should the
heavy-armed horsemen succeed in crossing this marshy and broken ground
and reach the firm soil in the Scottish front, they would find
themselves in a worse strait still. For Bruce had his men dig a great
number of holes as deep as a man's knee. These were covered with light
brush, and the turf spread evenly over them, so that the honeycombed