lush faded from
his own face, and his gaze was turned in the same direction again.

Alas! it was but too plain now; for the rout was plainly in the
direction of the town, and it was easy to understand that had it
been the Yorkists who had fled they would have taken an opposite
direction, in order to reach their own lines.

For a moment prince and subject sat spellbound, watching that
terrible sight in deep silence. But then the peril of their own
position, and the deadly danger that menaced the prince if the
situation should be realized by their foes surrounding them here,
flashed across Paul like a vivid and terrible lightning gleam.

He turned and laid his hand upon the shoulder of the prince.

"My liege," he said, "we may not linger here. We must regain our
comrades, and see if we may rally them yet. All may not be lost,
but it were madness to remain here. Let me call our followers
together, and we will charge back through the foe to our own lines.
It is not safe to be here."

Edward made no reply. The face that had been flushed with victory
and bright with hope was now set in those stern lines which seem to
speak of a forlorn hope. He saw their peril as clearly as Paul; but
if the day were lost, what mattered it if his life were yet whole
in him? The face he silently turned upon his companion seemed to
have grown years older whilst he had been speaking.

And to make matters worse, the knowledge of the disaster to their
own side spread to the soldiers who had followed the prince, and
that instant demoralization which so often accompanies and
aggravates defeat seized upon the men. They flung away their
heavier arms, and with a shout of "Treason, treason!"--for they
were assured there had been foul play somewhere--fled each man by
himself, without a thought for aught save his own life.

Paul and the prince thus found themselves alone in the midst of a
hostile host--alone save for the presence of some half-dozen stout
troopers attached to the service of Paul, who since his advance in
worldly prosperity had been in a position to engage and retain the
services of some men-at-arms of his own. These faithful fellows,
who had learned to love their young master, sat doggedly in their
saddles, prepared to sell their lives dear, and to carry off if
possible their master and the prince living from the field. But
they, too, realized how desperate was the situation; and the
threatening and triumphant glances of their enem