ncredible in these days
of rapid communication that this necessary intelligence could not be
furnished in London, but that both forces lay somewhere in or near
Yorkshire was the utmost Gilbert could learn about them.

[Illustration: A RIDE TO THE NORTH.]

The farther they travelled northwards the more people did they meet, and
it soon became plain that these were many of them fugitives flying from
impending ruin. The tales they told were of course conflicting, and in
their fright and anxiety to escape and save their families, often
confused. But Gilbert was able to make out that the Scots army, which
had marched over the Border to the help of the Parliament, had been shut
up in Sunderland by the Royalists under the Earl of Newcastle; but the
Parliamentary forces under Fairfax coming to their relief, the Earl had
retired to York, and the English and Scotch together had now laid siege
to that city.

As they drew near to Yorkshire, evidence of the commotion became still
more apparent. The roads were strewed with beds and bedding, and various
articles of household furniture, which the fugitives had attempted to
take with them, but afterwards had thrown away; for the rumour had gone
abroad that Prince Rupert was coming, and enough had been heard of his
atrocities in Cheshire and Lancashire to make the people dread his
approach as they would the plague. At length, as they neared the
besieged city, they heard that Lord Kimbolton's army was in the
neighbourhood, and Gilbert was not long in discovering the encampment
and seeking out Lieutenant Cromwell.

He warmly welcomed his young kinsman, and at once accepted his services
and that of his companion. Harry Drury was not unused to arms. He had
been taught fencing as a part of his education, and would use the
singlestick, arquebus, and crossbow, while the fashion of every
gentleman wearing a sword had rendered it necessary that this weapon
should be handled skilfully. The necessary drill was therefore soon
learned by Harry, and he was admitted to serve in the same corps as his
friend.

Every addition to the army was welcome now, and the work of drilling the
recruits went on all day, and often far into the night too. The life of
a soldier here in Cromwell's camp was very different from the gay scene
of revel he had sometimes heard the Royalist troopers describe. There
was no rioting or drunkenness, no shouting or brawling, for these were
sober-minded earnest men, who felt th