was no safe hold, and were
advancing on Falkirk. Bruce had summoned Scotland to tryst in Torwood,
whence he could retreat at pleasure, if, after all, retreat he must. The
Fiery Cross, red with blood of a sacrificed goat, must have flown
through the whole of the Celticland. Lanarkshire, Douglasdale, and
Ettrick Forest were mustered under the banner of Douglas, the mullets
not yet enriched with the royal heart. The men of Moray followed their
new earl, Randolph, the adventurous knight who scaled the rock of the
castle of the Maidens. Renfrewshire, Bute, and Ayr were under the _fesse
chequy_ of young Walter Stewart. Bruce had gathered his own Carrick men,
and Angus Og led the wild levies of the Isles. Of stout spearmen and
fleet-footed clansmen Bruce had abundance; but what were his archers to
the archers of England, or his five hundred horse under Keith the
mareschal, to the rival knights of England, Hainault, Guienne, and
Almayne?

Battles, however, are won by heads, as well as by hearts and hands. The
victor of Glen Trool and Cruachen and London Hill knew every move in the
game, while Randolph and Douglas were experts in making one man do the
work of five. Bruce, too, had choice of ground, and the ground suited
him well.

To reach Stirling the English must advance by their left, along the
so-called German way, through the village of St. Nian's, or by their
right, through the Carse, partly enclosed, and much broken, in drainless
days, by reedy lochans. Bruce did not make his final dispositions till
he learned that the English meant to march by the former route. He then
chose ground where his front was defended, first by the little burn of
Bannock, which at one point winds through a cleugh with steep banks, and
next by two morasses, Halbert's bog and Milton bog. What is now arable
ground may have been a loch in old days, and these two marshes were then
impassable by a column of attack.

Between Charter's Hall--where Edward had his head-quarters--and Park's
Mill was a marge of firm soil, along which a column could pass, in
scrubby country, and between the bogs was a sort of bridge of dry land.
By these two avenues the English might assail the Scottish lines. These
approaches Bruce is said to have rendered difficult by pitfalls, and
even by caltrops to maim the horses. He determined to fight on foot, the
wooded country being difficult for horsemen, and the foe being
infinitely superior in cavalry. His army was arranged