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who, having by this time passed the river in great numbers, gave them a warm reception.
A singular occurrence, which some accounts represent as an accidental sally of patriotic enthusiasm, others as a premeditated stratagem of King Robert, suddenly altered the face of affairs, and contributed greatly to the victory. All the servants and attendants of the Scottish army, who are said to have amounted to twenty thousand, had been ordered, before the battle, to retire behind Murray's Craig. But having, during the engagement, arranged themselves in a martial form, they marched to the top of the hill, and displaying banners, moved towards the field of battle with hideous shouts. The English perceiving this motely crowd, and taking them for a fresh reinforcement advancing to support the Scots, were seized with so great a panic, that they began to give way in confusion. Buchanan says that the King of England was the first who fled; but in this he contradicts all other historians, who affirm that he was among the last in the field. The Scots pursued; and great was the slaughter among the enemy, especially in passing the river, where they could keep no order, because of the irregularity of the ground. King Edward himself escaped with much difficulty being closely pursued above-forty miles, by Sir James Douglas, with a party of light horse, He was upon the point of being taken prisoner when he was received into the Castle of Dunbar by the Earl of March, who conveyed him to England, by sea, in a fisher's boat; his immense army being entirely discomfited. The Scots lost only four thousand men; while the loss of the English amounted to above thirty thousand.
