he whole fabric had sunk to
half its height, and tottered to a general fall.

And now the footmen in the market-place fell back, at a run, on every
side. The horsemen, who had been standing in a line two deep, wheeled
suddenly, and made their flank into their front; and as swift as a
striking adder, the long, steel-clad column was launched upon the
ruinous barricade.

Of the first two horsemen, one fell, rider and steed, and was ridden
down by his companions. The second leaped clean upon the summit of the
rampart, transpiercing an archer with his lance. Almost in the same
instant he was dragged from the saddle and his horse despatched.

And then the full weight and impetus of the charge burst upon and
scattered the defenders. The men-at-arms, surmounting their fallen
comrades, and carried onward by the fury of their onslaught, dashed
through Dick's broken line and poured thundering up the lane beyond, as
a stream bestrides and pours across a broken dam.

Yet was the fight not over. Still, in the narrow jaws of the entrance,
Dick and a few survivors plied their bills like woodmen; and already,
across the width of the passage, there had been formed a second, a
higher, and a more effectual rampart of fallen men and disembowelled
horses, lashing in the agonies of death.

Baffled by this fresh obstacle, the remainder of the cavalry fell back;
and as, at the sight of this movement, the flight of arrows redoubled
from the casements of the houses, their retreat had, for a moment,
almost degenerated into flight.

Almost at the same time, those who had crossed the barricade and charged
farther up the street, being met before the door of the Chequers by the
formidable hunchback and the whole reserve of the Yorkists, began to
come scattering backwards, in the excess of disarray and terror.

Dick and his fellows faced about, fresh men poured out of the houses; a
cruel blast of arrows met the fugitives full in the face, while
Gloucester was already riding down their rear; in the inside of a minute
and a half there was no living Lancastrian in the street.

Then, and not till then, did Dick hold up his reeking blade and give the
word to cheer.

Meanwhile Gloucester dismounted from his horse and came forward to
inspect the post. His face was as pale as linen; but his eyes shone in
his head like some strange jewel, and his voice, when he spoke, was
hoarse and broken with the exultation of battle and success. He looked
at the r