"At Sluys he heard that Alonzo, the King of Leon and Castile, was
carrying on war with Osmyn, the Moorish governor of Grenada. The
religious mission which he had embraced, and the vows he had taken
before leaving Scotland, induced Douglas to consider Alonzo's cause as a
holy warfare; and, before proceeding to Jerusalem, he first determined
to visit Spain, and to signalise his prowess against the Saracens. But
his first field against the Infidels proved fatal to him who, in the
long English war, had seen seventy battles. The circumstances of his
death were striking and characteristic. In an action near Theba, on the
borders of Andalusia, the Moorish cavalry were defeated; and, after
their camp had been taken, Douglas, with his companions, engaged too
eagerly in the pursuit, and, being separated from the main body of the
Spanish army, a strong division of the Moors rallied and surrounded
them. The Scottish knight endeavoured to cut his way through the
Infidels, and in all probability would have succeeded, had he not again
turned to rescue Sir William Saint Clair of Roslin, whom he saw in
jeopardy. In attempting this, he was inextricably involved with the
enemy. Taking from his neck the casket which contained the heart of
Bruce, he cast it before him, and exclaimed with a loud voice, 'Now pass
onward as thou wert wont, and Douglas will follow thee or die!' The
action and the sentiment were heroic, and they were the last words and
deed of a heroic life, for Douglas fell, overpowered by his enemies; and
three of his knights, and many of his companions, were slain along with
their master. On the succeeding day, the body and the casket were both
found on the field, and by his surviving friends conveyed to Scotland.
The heart of Bruce was deposited at Melrose, and the body of the 'Good
Sir James'--the name by which he is affectionately remembered by his
countrymen--was consigned to the cemetery of his fathers in the parish
church of Douglas."