he village. No, sir, my duty is to fight here."

"I always thought you a coward!" Sir Ralph exclaimed; "now I know it,"
and, with a taunting laugh, he ordered his men to follow him, issued
from the village, and prepared, with his little band, to charge the
Roundhead horse, about a hundred and fifty strong.

Just as they formed line, however, the enemy's' guns opened, and a shot
struck Sir Ralph full in the chest, hurling him, a shattered corpse, to
the ground.

His men, dismayed at the fall of their leader, drew rein.

"Fall back, men," Harry shouted from behind, "fall back, and make a
stand here. You must be cut to pieces if you advance."

The troop, who had no other officer with them, at once obeyed Harry's
orders. They had heard the conversation between him and their leader,
and although prepared to follow Sir Ralph, who was the landlord of most
of them, they saw that Harry was right, and that to attack so numerous a
body of horse and foot was but to invite destruction.

CHAPTER IX.

A STUBBORN DEFENSE.

A half-dozen or so of Sir Ralph Willoughby's troopers declared that now
their lord was dead they would fight no further, and straightway rode
off through the village and across the ford. The rest, however, seeing
that a brave fight against odds was about to commence, declared their
willingness to put themselves under Harry's orders. They were at once
dismounted and scattered along the line of defenses. After the Roundhead
cannon had fired a few shots their cavalry charged, thinking to ride
into the village. But the moment Sir Ralph's troopers had re-entered it
Harry had heaped up across the road a quantity of young trees and bushes
which he had cut in readiness. Not a shot was fired until the horsemen
reached this obstacle, and then so heavy a fire was poured upon them, as
they dismounted and tried to pull it asunder, that, with a loss of many
men, they were forced to retreat.

The infantry now advanced, and a severe fight began. Harry's eighty men,
sheltered behind their walls, inflicted heavy damage upon the enemy,
who, however, pressed on stoutly, one column reaching the obstruction
across the road, and laboring to destroy it. All the horses, with the
exception of twenty, had been sent across the ford, and when Harry saw
that in spite of the efforts of his men the enemy were destroying the
abattis, he mounted twenty men upon these horses, placing Jacob at
their head. Then he drew off as many defe