of
English archers crossed the burn and opened the battle by pouring
clouds of arrows into the Scottish ranks. The Scotch archers, who
were in advance of their spearmen, were speedily driven back to
shelter beyond their line, for not only were the English vastly more
numerous, but they shot much further and more accurately. And now
the knights and men-at-arms, on their steel clad horses, crossed
the burn. They were aware of the existence of Milton Bog, which
covered the Scottish centre, and they directed their charge upon
the division of Edward Bruce on the Scottish right. The crash as
the mailed horses burst down upon the wood of Scottish spears was
tremendous. Bruce's men held firm, and the English in vain strove
to break through their serried line of spears. It was a repetition
of the fight of the previous day, but on a greater scale. With
lance and battleaxe the chivalry of England strove to break the
ranks of the Scotch, while with serried lines of spears, four deep,
the Scotch held their own. Every horse which, wounded or riderless,
turned and dashed through the ranks of the English, added to the
confusion. This was much further increased by the deep holes into
which the horses were continually falling, and breaking up all order
in their ranks. Those behind pressed forward to reach the front,
and their very numbers added to their difficulty.

The English were divided into ten divisions or "battles," and
these one by one crossed the stream with banners flying, and still
avoiding the centre, followed the line taken by the first, and
pressed forward to take part in the fray.

Randolph now moved with the centre to the support of the hardly
pressed right, and his division, as well as that of Edward Bruce,
seemed to be lost among the multitude of their opponents. Stewart
and Douglas moved their division to the right and threw themselves
into the fray, and the three Scottish divisions were now fighting
side by side, but with a much smaller front than that which they
had originally occupied. For a time the battle raged furiously
without superiority on either side. The Scotch possessed the great
advantage that, standing close together in ranks four deep, every
man was engaged, while of the mounted knights and men-at-arms who
pressed upon them, only the front line was doing efficient service.
Not only, therefore, was the vast numerical superiority of the
English useless to them, but actually a far larger number of the