council hall. A voice
was immediately heard in the ante-chamber calling out Treason. This
was again another signal. It was a call to a band of armed men whom
Richard had stationed in a convenient place near by, and who were to
rush in at this call. Accordingly, a sudden noise was heard of the
rushing of men and the clanking of iron, and before the councilors
could recover from their consternation the table was surrounded with
soldiery, all "in harness," that is, completely armed, and as fast as
the foremost came in and gathered around the table, others pressed in
after them, until the room was completely full.

Richard, designating Hastings with a gesture, said suddenly, "I arrest
thee, traitor."

"What! _me_, my lord?" exclaimed Hastings, in terror.

"Yes, thee, traitor."

Two or three of the soldiers immediately seized Hastings and prepared
to lead him away. Other soldiers laid hands upon several of the other
nobles, such as Richard had designated to them beforehand. These, of
course, were the leading and prominent men of the party opposed to
Richard's permanent ascendency. Most of these men were taken away and
secured as prisoners in various parts of the Tower. As for Hastings,
Richard, in a stern and angry manner, advised him to lose no time in
saying his prayers, "for, by the Lord," said he, "I will not to dinner
to-day till I see thy head off."

Then, after a brief delay, to allow the wretched man a few minutes to
say his prayers, Richard nodded to the soldiers to signify to them
that they were to proceed to their work. They immediately took their
victim out to a green by the side of the Tower, and, laying him down
with his neck across a log which they found there, they cut off his
head with a broad-axe.

[Illustration: POMFRET CASTLE.]

The same day Richard sent off a dispatch to the north, directed to
the men who had in charge the Earl Rivers, and the other friends of
the king who had been made prisoners when the king was seized at
Stony Stratford, ordering them all to be beheaded. The order was
immediately obeyed.

The person who had charge of the execution of this order was a stern
and ruffian-like officer named Sir Richard Ratcliffe. This man is
quite noted in the history of the times as one of the most
unscrupulous of Richard's adherents. He was a merciless man, short and
rude in speech, and reckless in action, destitute alike of all pity
for man and of all fear of God.

The place where the pris