e or stumble, till
he stepped upon the open platform at the top.

Shoreby Church tower not only commanded the town, as in a map, but looked
far, on both sides, over sea and land. It was now near upon noon; the
day exceeding bright, the snow dazzling. And as Dick looked around him,
he could measure the consequences of the battle.

A confused, growling uproar reached him from the streets, and now and
then, but very rarely, the clash of steel. Not a ship, not so much as a
skiff remained in harbour; but the sea was dotted with sails and
row-boats laden with fugitives. On shore, too, the surface of the snowy
meadows was broken up with bands of horsemen, some cutting their way
towards the borders of the forest, others, who were doubtless of the
Yorkist side, stoutly interposing and beating them back upon the town.
Over all the open ground there lay a prodigious quantity of fallen men
and horses, clearly defined upon the snow.

To complete the picture, those of the foot soldiers as had not found
place upon a ship still kept up an archery combat on the borders of the
port, and from the cover of the shoreside taverns. In that quarter,
also, one or two houses had been fired, and the smoke towered high in the
frosty sunlight, and blew off to sea in voluminous folds.

Already close upon the margin of the woods, and somewhat in the line of
Holywood, one particular clump of fleeing horsemen riveted the attention
of the young watcher on the tower. It was fairly numerous; in no other
quarter of the field did so many Lancastrians still hold together; thus
they had left a wide, discoloured wake upon the snow, and Dick was able
to trace them step by step from where they had left the town.

While Dick stood watching them, they had gained, unopposed, the first
fringe of the leafless forest, and, turning a little from their
direction, the sun fell for a moment full on their array, as it was
relieved against the dusky wood.

"Murrey and blue!" cried Dick. "I swear it--murrey and blue!"

The next moment he was descending the stairway.

It was now his business to seek out the Duke of Gloucester, who alone, in
the disorder of the forces, might be able to supply him with a
sufficiency of men. The fighting in the main town was now practically at
an end; and as Dick ran hither and thither, seeking the commander, the
streets were thick with wandering soldiers, some laden with more booty
than they could well stagger under, others shou