ept away the horse of the enemy; but the pikemen of London,
who now first were tried in combat, forced back the infantry of the
king. Prince Rupert, returning from the pursuit, charged them with all
his cavalry; but so sharply did they shoot, and so steadily did the line
of pikes hold together, that the horse could make no impression upon
them.

The night fell upon an undecided battle, and the next morning the
Roundheads, as at Edgehill, drew off from the field, leaving to the
Royalists the honor of a nominal success, a success, however, which was
in both cases tantamount to a repulse.

Three leading men upon the king's side fell--Lords Falkland, Carnarvon,
and Sunderland. The former, one of the finest characters of the times,
may be said to have thrown away his life. He was utterly weary of the
terrible dissensions and war in which England was plunged. He saw the
bitterness increasing on both sides daily--the hopes of peace growing
less and less; and as he had left the Parliamentary party, because he
saw that their ambition was boundless, and that they purposed to set up
a despotic tyranny, so he must have bitterly grieved at seeing upon the
side of the king a duplicity beyond all bounds, and want of faith which
seemed to forbid all hope of a satisfactory issue. Thus, then, when the
day of Newbury came, Falkland, whose duties in nowise led him into the
fight, charged recklessly and found the death which there can be little
doubt he sought.

Although the Cavaliers claimed Newbury as a great victory, instead of
advancing upon London they fell back as usual to Oxford.

During the skirmishes Harry had an opportunity of doing a service to an
old friend. The Parliament horse, although valiant and better trained
than that of the Royalists, were yet unable to withstand the impetuosity
with which the latter always attacked, the men seeming, indeed, to be
seized with a veritable panic at the sight of the gay plumes of Rupert's
gentlemen. In a fierce skirmish between Harry's troop and a party of
Parliament horse of about equal strength, the latter were defeated, and
Harry, returning with the main body, found a Puritan officer dismounted,
with his back against a tree, defending himself from the attacks of
three of his men. Harry rode hastily up and demanded his surrender. The
officer looked up, and to his surprise Harry saw his friend Herbert.

"I am your prisoner, Harry," Herbert said, as he lowered the point of
his sword.