n a few years Edward got together another army, and leading them
into Scotland he beat the Scots and took Wallace prisoner. Wallace was
tried and found guilty of treason, and when he had been beheaded, they
crowned his head with laurel and placed it on London Bridge, for all the
passers-by, by road or river, to see.

[Sidenote: A.D. 1305.]

Then two men claimed the Scottish crown, Robert Bruce and John, who was
called the Red Comyn. They were jealous of each other, and Bruce thought
that Comyn had betrayed him. They met in a church to have an
explanation.

"You are a traitor," said Bruce.

[Illustration]

"You lie," said Comyn.

And Bruce in a fury struck at him with his dagger, and then, filled with
horror, rushed from the church. "To horse, to horse," he cried. One of
his attendants, named Kirkpatrick, asked him what was the matter.

"I doubt," said Bruce, "that I have slain the Red Comyn."

"You doubt!" said Kirkpatrick. "I will make sure."

So saying, he hurried back into the church and killed the wounded man.

And now the task of defending Scotland against Edward was left to Robert
Bruce. King Edward was so angry when he heard of this murder, that at
the feast, when his son was made a knight, he swore over the swan, which
was the chief dish and which was the emblem of truth and constancy, that
he would never rest two nights in the same place till he had chastised
the Scots. And for some time the Scots and English were at bitter war,
and when King Edward died, he made his son promise to go on fighting.

[Sidenote: A.D. 1307.]

But Edward the Second was not a man like his father. He was more like
his grandfather Henry the Third, caring for pretty colours and pretty
things, rich clothes, rich feasts, rich jewels, and surrounding himself
with worthless favourites. Robert Bruce said he was more afraid of the
dead bones of Edward the First than of the living body of Edward of
Caernarvon, and that it was easier to win a kingdom from his son than a
foot of land from the father. Gradually the castles the English had
taken in Scotland were won back from them. For twenty years the English
had held the Castle of Edinburgh, and at the end of that time, Randolph,
a Scottish noble, came to besiege it.

The siege was long, and the brave English showed no signs of giving in.
Randolph was told that it was possible to climb up the south face of the
rock on which the castle stood, and steep as the rock was, Randolph and