ime that the
cry of "treason" had struck their ears, and Edward's charge was made;
these men, nearly all Lancastrians, and ever doubting Montagu, if not
Warwick, with the example of Clarence and the Archbishop of York fresh
before them, lost heart at once,--Somerset himself headed the flight of
his force.

"All is lost!" said Montagu, as side by side with Warwick the brothers
fronted the foe, and for one moment stayed the rush.

"Not yet," returned the earl; "a band of my northern archers still guard
yon wood; I know them,--they will fight to the last gasp! Thither, then,
with what men we may. You so marshal our soldiers, and I will make good
the retreat. Where is Sir Marmaduke Nevile?"

"Here!"

"Horsed again, young cousin! I give thee a perilous commission. Take the
path down the hill; the mists thicken in the hollows, and may hide thee.
Overtake Somerset; he hath fled westward, and tell him, from me, if
he can yet rally but one troop of horse--but one--and charge Edward
suddenly in the rear, he will yet redeem all. If he refuse, the ruin of
his king and the slaughter of the brave men he deserts be on his head!
Swift, a tout bride, Marmaduke. Yet one word," added the earl, in
a whisper,--"if you fail with Somerset, come not back, make to the
Sanctuary. You are too young to die, cousin! Away! keep to the hollows
of the chase."

As the knight vanished, Warwick turned to his comrades "Bold nephew
Fitzhugh, and ye brave riders round me,--so we are fifty knights! Haste
thou, Montagu, to the wood! the wood!"

So noble in that hero age was the Individual MAN, even amidst the
multitudes massed by war, that history vies with romance in showing how
far a single sword could redress the scale of war. While Montagu,
with rapid dexterity, and a voice yet promising victory, drew back the
remnant of the lines, and in serried order retreated to the outskirts
of the wood, Warwick and his band of knights protected the movement
from the countless horsemen who darted forth from Edward's swarming
and momently thickening ranks. Now dividing and charging singly, now
rejoining, and breast to breast, they served to divert and perplex and
harass the eager enemy. And never in all his wars, in all the former
might of his indomitable arm, had Warwick so excelled the martial
chivalry of his age, as in that eventful and crowning hour. Thrice
almost alone he penetrated into the very centre of Edward's body-guard,
literally felling to the eart