where hard knocks were being dealt--with Montgomery at
Powick Bridge, or with Pittscottie on Bunn's Hill. But he was forced to
hold his mood in curb, and wait until Charles and his advisers should
elect to make the general attack.

It came at last, and with it came the disastrous news that Montgomery
was routed, and Pittscottie in full retreat, whilst Dalzell had
surrendered, and Keith was taken. Then was it that the main body of the
Royal army formed up at the Sidbury Gate, and Crispin found himself in
the centre, which was commanded by the King in person. In the brilliant
charge that followed there was no more conspicuous figure, no voice
rang louder in encouragement to the men. For the first time that day
Cromwell's Ironsides gave back before the Royalists, who in that fierce,
irresistible charge, swept all before them until they had reached
the battery on Perry Wood, and driven the Roundheads from it
hell-to-leather.

It was a glorious moment, a moment in which the fortunes of the day hung
in the balance; the turn of the tide it seemed to them at last.

Crispin was among the first to reach the guns, and with a great shout of
"Hurrah for Cavaliers!" he had cut down two gunners that yet lingered.
His cry lacked not an echo, and a deafening cheer broke upon the
clamorous air as the Royalists found themselves masters of the position.
Up the hill on either side pressed the Duke of Hamilton and the Earl of
Derby to support the King. It but remained for Lesley's Scottish horse
to follow and complete the rout of the Parliamentarian forces. Had they
moved at that supreme moment who shall say what had been the issue of
Worcester field? But they never stirred, and the Royalists waiting on
Perry Wood cursed Lesley for a foul traitor who had sold his King.

With bitterness did they then realize that their great effort was to be
barren, their gallant charge in vain. Unsupported, their position grew
fast untenable.

And presently, when Cromwell had gathered his scattered Ironsides, that
gallant host was driven fighting, down the hill and back to the shelter
of Worcester. With the Roundheads pressing hotly upon them they gained
at last the Sidbury Gate, but only to find that an overset ammunition
wagon blocked the entrance. In this plight, and without attempting
to move it, they faced about to make a last stand against the Puritan
onslaught.

Charles had flung himself from his charger and climbed the obstruction,
and in this