The Follies of the King - Plaidy Jean - Страница 34

‘Even my father could not have withstood such an army had he been on the

opposing side,’ said Edward.

‘ ‘Tis so, my lord,’ replied Pembroke. ‘But we must not make the mistake of expecting easy victory.’

Pembroke was a master at the art of war. He made sure that the army should have the necessary provisions; he set up men whose efficiency he could rely on to take care of the stores. They must have in their train smiths, carpenters, masons, and armourers, wagons to carry the tents and pavilions and all that was necessary to warfare. Many a battle he reminded the King had been lost through neglect of such details.

Nor must the King neglect to ask the help of God and it would be a good

gesture for him to make a pilgrimage with the Queen, and his young son to St Albans.

Isabella was nothing loath. She enjoyed displaying herself to the people, and that she should show off her son delighted her.

Along the roads people came out to give loyal greetings as they passed. It was like the old days when Great Edward went to war, they said. There was the King with his Queen and his son, the heir to the throne. The Gaveston period was over. That man had been evil. He was the son of a witch and temporarily had cast a spell on the King. All Edward needed now was victory in Scotland and the people would be certain that the old days were back again.

Alas, it was not going to be so easy, as he found when he arrived at Berwick.

It was Pembroke who brought the news to him. ‘Lancaster, Arundel, Surrey

and Warwick will not come in person,’ he told the King.

Edward was filled with sudden rage. ‘Why not? How dare they? Have I not

summoned them?’

‘Aye, my lord, and they have sent token troops in accordance with their

feudal vows to the Crown. They say that they should have been consulted before you took up arms.’

‘Traitors!’ cried the King.

‘We cannot say that, my lord. They have fulfilled their commitments though in the minimum degree it is true and we shall not have the force we expected from them.’

‘I thought at a time like this they would have considered their duty to their country.’

‘They consider only gain to themselves, my lord. And they have performed

what was required of them at this time. We have the service of good men. Many have seen service in Scotland before this and Wales too. Their services will be of the greatest value to us.’

The King agreed and he glowed with pride and optimism when he surveyed

his army. There must be some forty thousand men, a band of which even his

father would have been proud.

Edward was going to show the Scots that his father’s spirit going to make

them lived on. He was going to make them eat their words. This was going to be as great a victory as had ever glorified his father’s name.

He with his men marched on to Edinburgh.

???????

Robert the Bruce, aware of the advancing English, should have been filled

with apprehension. He was, and yet there was in him a surging hope, for he believed that it was his destiny to drive the English out of Scotland and when Edward the First had died and he had begun to realize the nature of his successor he had been certain that he was going to succeed.

There had been so much failure; the Scots could not hope to raise an army

which could compare with that of Edward’s in training; in equipment they were vastly inferior; yet the spirit was there. Men who were defending their homeland always had the advantage over the invader. If they had an inspired leader, they could work miracles. Bruce was inspired. He has suffered many defeats but he knew he was going to win in the end. he liked to tell the tale of the spider which had somehow caught his imagination and that of his followers.

He would sit by the light of the camp fire and talk to them of the time when he had been lonely, depressed and defeated, when he had been routed and had barely managed to save his life. He would tell how he had lain in his bed and watched a spider try six times to attach its thread to a balk and each time fail.

The spider went on trying until on the seventh attempt when he was successful.

This seemed significant to Bruce because six times he had raised armies and attempted to defeat the English and each time he had been defeated.

‘Now shall this spider teach me what I am to do,’ he said. ‘Even as the

creature failed so did I; and even as he succeeded in the end, I shall also. He has taught me a lesson which I will never forget and that is never to accept defeat. If I fail yet will I try again and go on trying until defeat turns into victory.’

It was spoken of often in his camps. They knew that their King would never harm a spider, and nor would they, for it had become a superstition that ill luck would follow any who did.

It had helped him, that spider, because the legend which had grown up round it was that one day Robert would succeed even as the spider had. He was going to turn the English out of Scotland.

This might be the time. It must be the time, for the King himself was in Scotland with a mighty army and the battle which would inevitably follow could be a decisive one. True, Great Edward was no more, but the army was there and how could the Scottish army one third the size stand up to it?

Robert the Bruce had mustered his men at Torwood close by Stirling where

he reviewed his chances. With a army he must rely on his own generalship, his men’s determination and his knowledge of the ground on which the battle would take place. He must manoeuvre so that he should choose the spot and as he had few cavalry men and the English were well equipped in this field, he decided that must be fought on foot. He himself chose the battleground. It was to be New Park between the village of St. Ninian and the little stream of the Bannock which was known in the district as Bannockburn. Here by the water, the land was marshy and this would provide a danger for the English horses.

He called together the principal generals of the Scottish army. There was his brother Sir Edward Bruce, Sir James Douglas, Randolph Earl of Moray and

Walter, the High Steward of Scotland.

He was very sober as he addressed them. ‘We are out-numbered three-to-

one, but do not let the men know this. I have carefully examined the ground and I want the right wing of the army to rest on the banks of the burn. There we can be sure of not being outflanked. The front of the army shall extend to St. Ninian village.’

“The left will be less protected than the rest of the army,’ pointed out

Moray.

‘You speak truth. It will be exposed to the garrison of Stirling Castle. That is why I have ordered that pits be dug in that area and in these shall be placed iron spikes.’

‘ ‘Tis a grand idea,’ cried Douglas.

‘And the hollows will be filled with brushwood,’ went on Bruce.

‘No horse will be able to pass over that ground,’ commented the Steward.

‘That was the intention,’ smiled Bruce. ‘Now, let us go forward with a quiet confidence. The odds are against us but we can succeed.’

‘We must succeed,’ said Randolph.

‘I thank God that it is not the English King’s father who comes against us,’

murmured Bruce.

‘Doubtless, they will carry his bones before the army,’ said the Steward,

who was not a veteran of battle as the others were.

Bruce smiled at his smooth young face.

‘We learn to believe only in those omens which bring good to us,’ he said

‘But if they are good or evil?’ began the young man.

‘Evil? good? either is born in the mind. And so are victory and defeat. My friends, let us say together, “This day we shall succeed.” Come, I will speak to the men. I want every man who fights under my banner this day to be there

because he wishes to see Scotland free. I want no reluctant men in my army.’