"In such afray they bode that night Till in the morn, that day was bright, And then ceaséd partly The noise, the slaughter, and the cry." Thus once again the fierce struggle was begun. But this time the Bruce was successful. From town after town, from castle after castle the enemy was driven out, till only Stirling was left to the English. It was near this town, on the field of Bannockburn, that the last great struggle took place. Brave King Edward I was dead by this time, but his son, Edward II, led the army. It was the greatest army that had ever entered Scotland, but the Scots won the day and won freedom at the same time. I cannot tell you of this great battle, nor of all the adventures which led up to it. These you must read in other books, one day, I hope, in Barbour's Bruce itself. From the day of Bannockburn, Barbour tells us, Robert the Bruce grew great. "His men were rich, and his country Abounded well with corn and cattle, And of all kind other richness; Mirth, solace, and eke blithness Was in the land all commonly, For ilk man blith was and jolly." And here Barbour ends the first part of his poem. In the second part he goes on to tell us of how the Bruces carried war into Ireland, of how they overran Northumberland, and of how at length true peace was made. Then King Robert's little son David, who was but five, was married to Joan, the seven-year-old sister of King Edward III. Thus, after war, came rest and ease to both countries. But King Robert did not live long to enjoy his well-earned rest. He died, and all the land was filled with mourning and sorrow. "'All our defense,' they said, 'alas! And he that all our comfort was, Our wit and all our governing, Is brought, alas, here to ending; . . . . . Alas! what shall we do or say? For in life while he lasted, aye By all our foes dred were we, And in many a far country Of our worship ran the renown, And that was all for his person.'" Barbour ends his book by telling of how the Douglas set out to carry the heart of the Bruce to Palestine, and of how he fell fighting in Spain, and of how his dead body and the King's heart were brought back to Scotland.