, to remember
their old allegiance, [Sharon Turner, vol. iii. 280.] and promising that
he would not desert them, save with life, till their safety was pledged
by the foe, reclosed his visor, and rode back to the front of the
bridge.

And now the king and his comrades had cut their way through all barrier,
but the enemy still wavered and lagged, till suddenly the cry of "Robin
of Redesdale!" was heard, and sword in hand, Hilyard, followed by a
troop of horse, dashed to the head of the besiegers, and, learning the
king's escape, rode off in pursuit. His brief presence and sharp rebuke
reanimated the falterers, and in a few minutes they gained the bridge.

"Halt, sirs," cried Hastings; "I would offer capitulation to your
leader! Who is he?"

A knight on horseback advanced from the rest. Hastings lowered the point
of his sword.

"Sir, we yield this fortress to your hands upon one condition,--our men
yonder are willing to submit, and shout with you for Henry VI. Pledge
me your word that you and your soldiers spare their lives and do them no
wrong, and we depart."

"And if I pledge it not?" said the knight.

"Then for every warrior who guards this bridge count ten dead men
amongst your ranks."

"Do your worst,--our bloods are up! We want life for life! revenge for
the subjects butchered by your tyrant chief! Charge! to the attack!
charge! pike and bill!" The knight spurred on, the Lancastrians
followed, and the knight reeled from his horse into the moat below,
felled by the sword of Hastings.

For several minutes the pass was so gallantly defended that the strife
seemed uncertain, though fearfully unequal, when Lord Montagu himself,
hearing what had befallen, galloped to the spot, threw down his
truncheon, cried "Hold!" and the slaughter ceased. To this nobleman
Hastings repeated the terms he had proposed.

"And," said Montagu, turning with anger to the Lancastrians, who formed
a detachment of Fitzhugh's force--"can Englishmen insist upon butchering
Englishmen? Rather thank we Lord Hastings that he would spare good King
Henry so many subjects' lives! The terms are granted, my lord; and your
own life also, and those of your friends around you, vainly brave in a
wrong cause. Depart!"

"Ah, Montagu," said Hastings, touched, and in a whisper, "what pity that
so gallant a gentleman should leave a rebel's blot upon his scutcheon!"

"When chiefs and suzerains are false and perjured, Lord Hastings,"
answered Montagu, "