Page:Prophecies of Thomas Rymer (2).pdf/20

 called Milton-bog, from its vicinity to a small village of that name; much of this bog is still undrained, and a part of it is at present a mill-dam. As it was then the middle of summer, it was almost quite dry. But King Robert had recourse to a stratagem in order to prevent any attack from that quarter. He had ordered many ditches and pits to be dug in the morass, and stakes sharpened at both ends to be driven into them, and the whole to be covered over again with green turf, so that the ground had still the appearance of being firm. He also caused crow-feet, or sharp-pointed irons to be scattered throughout the morass; some of which have been found there in the memory of people still living; the same manoeuvres were likewise carried on for a little way, along the front of the left wing; for there the banks for about two hundred yards, being flatter than they are any where else, it was the only place where the enemy could pass the river in any sort of order. By means of these artificial improvements, joined to the natural strength of the ground, the Scotch army stood as within an entrenchment, and the invisible pits and ditches answered to the concealed batteries of modern times.