ever onward pressed
the eager little band, until it was entirely separated from the
main body of the army; and so certain were all who took part in
that isolated skirmish that the fortunes of the day were with the
House of Lancaster, that the peril of their position struck none of
the prince's followers till, thinned by the blows of their
adversaries, and weary with the impetuosity of their own charge,
they paused and drew together; whilst the foe, glad of a moment's
breathing space, did not molest them.

There are pauses even on the battlefield when a few words can be
exchanged, and the prince, flushed with the foretaste (as it seemed
to him) of a glorious victory, turned to Paul with kindling eyes.

"War is a glorious game in all truth, Paul. I would not have been
elsewhere for all the world. But you bleed--you are wounded. Tell
me where. I knew not that you were hurt. You must ride back to the
town and be tended there."

"Nay, it is nought; I do not even feel it. I know not who struck
me, nor when. I will bind this scarf about my arm, and all will be
well. And think you not, my liege, that it were well to return to
the lines ourselves? I promised your royal mother and the Lady Anne
that you should not adventure yourself too much today within the
enemy's lines. But all such charge passed from my memory in the
heat of the fight."

"Ay, and my place was here, in the midst of my good soldiers. Oh,
it has been a glorious day! 'Lancaster will remember it ever. And
see, Paul--see how they fly on yonder height! See how the battle
rages and becomes a flight! It is the same everywhere. The Red Rose
triumphs. Proud York is forced to fly. Shall we join them, and lead
again to victory? They are chasing them to the very walls of the
town."

Paul looked in the direction indicated, and a change came over his
face. He had the wonderful long, keen sight which often comes to
those who have grown up in the open air, and have been used from
childhood to the exercise of hunting and hawking. The prince saw
only the flying rout, which he concluded to be the soldiers of
York; but Paul could distinguish more. He could see the colours,
and the badges they wore, and he recognized with a sinking heart
the terrible fact that it was the followers of the Red Rose who
were flying before the mailed warriors of Edward of York.

The change in his countenance did not escape young Edward's keen
eye, and he at once divined the cause, The bright f