now as to
capture, so long as he could save those at the park, he turned to look
back, when, just as the Cavaliers were thundering on to destruction, one
horseman dashed in front, waving his plumed hat, and meeting them--
sending all but about half a score round to the left, so that they
skirted the morass, just as they were on the point of charging in.

"Some one who knows the danger," muttered Fred, as he galloped on.
"Scarlett, of course. It must have been he."

Another five minutes, with the foremost men not half a dozen yards
behind, brought Fred to the top of a hill, beyond which he could see the
park, and to his horror the general's men were only then hurrying up
into formation, with their officers galloping excitedly to and fro.

"Hold out, good old horse," panted Fred,--as he glanced back once more
to see that capture must be certain now. "Another five minutes, and I
could be with them," he sobbed out breathlessly; and, as if his horse
understood him, or else nerved by the sight of his fellows so near at
hand, he lay out like a greyhound, just as a trumpet blast rang out on
Fred's left from the main body of the Cavaliers, a call whose effect was
that Fred's pursuers who had skirted the right of the morass, turned off
to the left, and rode on so as to regain their places in the ranks,
where their presence would be of more value than in pursuing a few
scattered outposts.

To an ordinary commander, the act of the Royalist leader seemed utter
madness. The horses of his men were half-blown by a long gallop, and
they were about to charge a body of sturdy cavalry, whose mounts were
rested and fresh.

But there was no hesitation. As they drew near, the trumpets rang out,
steel flashed, feathers flew, the horses snorted, and with a wild
hurrah! the Royalist troops literally raced against the advancing
Parliamentarians. There was a shock, the crash of steel, a roar as of
thunder, horse and man went headlong down on the green turf of the Hall
park, and to General Hedley's chagrin, and in spite of the valour of his
officers, and the stern stuff of which his men were composed, the
gallantry and dash of the first regiment was such that it seemed as if a
wedge had been driven through his ranks, and his discomfiture was
completed by the following charge of the second Cavalier line.

One minute his well-trained horsemen were advancing in good formation to
meet the shock of the Royalists, the next, discipline seemed