The chase was continued
as far as Dunbar, whose governor, the earl of March, opened his gates to
the flying king, and shut them against his foes. Giving the forlorn
monarch a small fishing-vessel, he set him on the seas for England, a
few distressed attendants alone remaining to him of the splendid army
with which he had marched to the conquest of Scotland.
Thus ended the battle which wrested Scotland from English hands, and
made Robert Bruce king of the whole country. From the state of an exile,
hunted with hounds, he had made himself a monarch, and one who soon gave
the English no little trouble to protect their own borders.
_THE SIEGE OF CALAIS._
Terrible and long-enduring had been the siege of Calais. For a whole
year it had continued, and still the sturdy citizens held the town.
Outside was Edward III., with his English host, raging at the obstinacy
of the French and at his own losses during the siege. Inside was John de
Vienne, the unyielding governor, and his brave garrison. Outside was
plenty; inside was famine; between were impregnable walls, which all the
engines of Edward failed to reduce or surmount. No resource was left the
English king but time and famine; none was left the garrison but the
hope of wearying their foes or of relief by their king.
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