But Bruce had no thought of awaiting the onset here. He well knew that
he must supply by skill what he lacked in numbers. The English army was
far superior to his, not only in men, but in its great host of cavalry,
which alone equalled his entire force, and in its multitude of archers,
the best bowmen in the world. What he lacked in men and arms he must
make up in brains. With this in view, he led his army from before the
town into a neighboring plain, called the Park, where nature had
provided means of defence of which he might avail himself.
The ground which his army here occupied was hard and dry. That in front
of it, through which Edward's host must pass, was wet and boggy, cut up
with frequent watercourses, and ill-fitted for cavalry. Should the
heavy-armed horsemen succeed in crossing this marshy and broken ground
and reach the firm soil in the Scottish front, they would find
themselves in a worse strait still. For Bruce had his men dig a great
number of holes as deep as a man's knee. These were covered with light
brush, and the turf spread evenly over them, so that the honeycombed
soil looked to the eye like an unbroken field. Elsewhere on the plain he
scattered calthrops--steel spikes--to lame the English horses.
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