The fall of so
active a leader excited as much dismay in the surrounding Scots as it
encouraged the reviving spirits of the enemy. Edwin exerted himself to
preserve his prince from being trampled on; and while he fought for
that purpose, and afterward sent his senseless body off the field,
under charge of young Gordon (who had been chosen by the disguised
Bruce as his especial aid), to Roslyn Castle, Neville rescued Segrave
and his knights. Lord Ruthven now contended with a feeble arm.
Fatigued with the two preceding conflicts, covered with wounds, and
perceiving indeed a host pouring upon them on all sides (for the whole
of Segrave's original army of 30,000 men, excepting those who had
fallen in the preceding engagements, were now restored to the assault),
the Scots, in despair, gave ground: some threw away their arms, to fly
the faster; and by thus exposing themselves, panic-struck, to the
swords of their enemies, redoubled the confusion.
Indeed, so great was the havoc, that the day must have ended in the
universal destruction of every Scot on the field, had not Wallace felt
the crisis, and that as Guy de Longueville he shed his blood in vain.
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