The measures Bruce had taken were crowned with complete success. Headlong into the covered pits fell the English cavalry, writhing among the sharp stakes: the Duke of Gloucester, who led them, was slain; and while the English army gazed with dismay at the slaughter that was being made of their comrades, they saw what they thought to be a new army, with waving standards, coming to attack them. This was another stratagem of Bruce’s, who had provided the waggoners and horseboys of the army with banners, so that at a distance they looked like fresh soldiers coming to the assistance of the Scotch.
The English were completely deceived by this trick. Thinking a new army was upon them, they threw down their arms and fled. For eighty miles did the Scots pursue them, killing all the common soldiers they overtook, and taking prisoners the knights and nobles from whom a ransom was to be expected. Edward fled as fast as the rest, and took refuge in the castle of Dunbar, from whence he hurried home to England. He had had enough of fighting to last him for a long time. Scotland was now free.*
abridged
* Scotland remained independent of England until James VI of Scotland took the English crown in 1603 by inheritance, and thereafter he and his heirs held both. In 1707, Scottish lawmakers – admittedly with considerable financial inducement – agreed to merge the two crowns and Parliaments to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, which became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on January 1st, 1801.