o shoot; and at the
first discharge poor Bennet bit the dust. Then Dick awoke.

"On!" he cried. "Shoot, boys, and keep to cover. England and York!"

But just then the dull beat of many horses on the snow suddenly arose in
the hollow ear of the night, and, with incredible swiftness, drew nearer
and swelled louder. At the same time, answering tuckets repeated and
repeated Hatch's call.

"Rally, rally!" cried Dick. "Rally upon me! Rally for your lives!"

But his men--afoot, scattered, taken in the hour when they had counted
on an easy triumph--began instead to give ground severally, and either
stood wavering or dispersed into the thickets. And when the first of the
horsemen came charging through the open avenues and fiercely riding
their steeds into the underwood, a few stragglers were overthrown or
speared among the brush, but the bulk of Dick's command had simply
melted at the rumour of their coming.

Dick stood for a moment, bitterly recognising the fruits of his
precipitate and unwise valour. Sir Daniel had seen the fire; he had
moved out with his main force, whether to attack his pursuers or to take
them in the rear if they should venture the assault. His had been
throughout the part of a sagacious captain; Dick's the conduct of an
eager boy. And here was the young knight, his sweetheart, indeed,
holding him tightly by the hand, but otherwise alone, his whole command
of men and horses dispersed in the night and the wide forest, like a
paper of pins in a hay barn.

"The saints enlighten me!" he thought. "It is well I was knighted for
this morning's matter; this doth me little honour."

And thereupon, still holding Joanna, he began to run.

The silence of the night was now shattered by the shouts of the men of
Tunstall, as they galloped hither and thither, hunting fugitives; and
Dick broke boldly through the underwood and ran straight before him like
a deer. The silver clearness of the moon upon the open snow increased,
by contrast, the obscurity of the thickets; and the extreme dispersion
of the vanquished led the pursuers into widely divergent paths. Hence,
in but a little while, Dick and Joanna paused, in a close covert, and
heard the sounds of the pursuit, scattering abroad, indeed, in all
directions, but yet fainting already in the distance.

"An I had but kept a reserve of them together," Dick cried, bitterly, "I
could have turned the tables yet! Well, we live and learn; next time it
shall go better, by