Page:History of the Black Douglas.pdf/15

Rh on that memorable day surpassed all his former deeds.

After the termination of the battle, and when it was known that Edward had made his escape from the field, Douglas collected about eighty horse, and hung upon his flight as far as Dunbar, fifty miles from the field of battle.

The battle of Bannockburn, so glorious to the Scots, put an end to the pretensions of the English King to the crown of Scotland. Instead of being able to send more armies into Scotland, England was, in its turn, invaded by the Scots; and Bruce sent his two great commanders, the Good Lord James Douglas, and Thomas Randolph, Earl of Murray, to lay waste the counties of Northumberland and Durham, and distress the English as much as they could.

Their soldiers were about twenty thousand men in number, all lightly armed, and mounted on horses that were but small in height, but excessively active. The men themselves carried no provisions, except a bag of oatmeal; and each had at his saddle a small plate of iron, called a girdle, on which, when they pleased, they could bake the oatmeal into cakes. They killed the cattle of the English, as they travelled through the country, roasted the flesh on wooden spits, or boiled it in the skins of the animals themselves, putting in a little water with the beef, to prevent the fire from burning the bide to pieces. This was rough cookery. They made their shoes, or rather sandals, in as coarse a way, cutting them out of the raw hides of the cattle, and fitting