d ignorant of the fate which had befallen
their prince and their master's son, they burst upon the Roundheads with
a force which the latter were unable to withstand. For four or five
minutes the fight continued, and then such of the Roundheads as were
able clapped spurs to their horses and galloped off, hotly pursued by
the Cavaliers. The pursuit was a short one. Several of the Cavaliers
were gathered at the spot where the conflict had taken place, and were,
apparently, questioning a wounded man. Then the trumpeter who was with
them sounded the recall, and in a few minutes the Royalist troops came
riding back. They could see Jacob pointing to the burning building and
gesticulating with his arms. Then a party dashed up to the house, and
were lost to sight.

The prince and Harry both shouted at the top of their voices, but the
roar of the flames and the crash of falling beams deadened the sound.
The heat had by this time become intense. They had gradually divested
themselves of their clothing, and were bathed in perspiration.

"This heat is terrific," Prince Rupert said. "I did not think the human
frame could stand so great a heat. Methinks that water would boil were
it placed here."

This was indeed the case--the human frame, as is now well known, being
capable of sustaining a heat considerably above that of boiling water.
The walls were now so hot that the hand could not be borne upon them for
an instant.

"My feet are burning!" the prince exclaimed, "Reach down that ladder
from the wall."

They laid the ladder on the ground and stood upon it, thus avoiding any
contact with the hot stone.

"If this goes on," Prince Rupert said, with a laugh; "there will be
nothing but our swords left. We are melting away fast, like candles
before a fire. Truly I do not think that there was so much water in a
man as has floated down from me during the last half-hour."

Harry was so placed that he could command a sight through the loophole,
and he exclaimed, "They are riding away!"

This was indeed the case. The whole building was now one vast furnace,
and having from the first no hope that their friends, if there, could
have survived, they had, hearing that Lady Sidmouth and her daughter had
been taken to Storton, determined to ride thither to take them from the
hands of the Roundheads, and to learn from them the fate of their
leaders.

Another two hours passed. The heat was still tremendous, but they could
not feel that it w