Front Matter

A drive from Bruce's spear made the rider fall back dead.

Preface

These words were written by a poet who lived in the days of Bruce, and who kept for us the story of his life and adventures.

It is to Robert the Bruce that we who live north of the Tweed owe our freedom.

More than that we owe to him.

For in the loneliest colonies of the farthest off lands in which the Union Jack has been unfurled, we are very sure to find Britons, much of whose pluck, patience, and power of endurance comes from the fact that their forebears had to fight hard to win and to hold their rights as freemen.

It is a proud thing for any boy to know himself to be one of the descendants of those who, through evil times, were true to their country and their king, and who fought and died on the field of Bannockburn.