man hath come over to us, and of the lords none gave
my Lord Grey, who was himself an exile. Not a baron or an earl, and only
one baronet, hath taken up arms for me. Where are the men whom Danvers
and Wildman promised me from London? Where are the brisk boys of the
City who were said to be longing for me? Where are the breakings out
from Berwick to Portland which they foretold? Not a man hath moved
save only these good peasants. I have been deluded, ensnared,
trapped--trapped by vile agents who have led me into the shambles.' He
paced up and down, wringing his hands and biting his lips, with despair
stamped upon his face. I observed that Buyse smiled and whispered
something to Saxon--a hint, I suppose, that this was the cold fit of
which he spoke.

'Tell me, Colonel Buyse,' said the King, mastering his emotion by a
strong effort. 'Do you, as a soldier, agree with my Lord Grey?'

'Ask Saxon, your Majesty,' the German answered. 'My opinion in a
Raths-Versammlung is, I have observed, ever the same as his.'

'Then we turn to you, Colonel Saxon,' said Monmouth. 'We have in this
council a party who are in favour of an advance and a party who wish
to stand their ground. Their weight and numbers are, methinks, nearly
equal. If you had the casting vote how would you decide?' All eyes were
bent upon our leader, for his martial bearing, and the respect shown to
him by the veteran Buyse, made it likely that his opinion might really
turn the scale. He sat for a few moments in silence with his hands
before his face.

'I will give my opinion, your Majesty,' he said at last. 'Feversham and
Churchill are making for Salisbury with three thousand foot, and they
have pushed on eight hundred of the Blue Guards, and two or three
dragoon regiments. We should, therefore, as Lord Grey says, have to
fight on Salisbury Plain, and our foot armed with a medley of weapons
could scarce make head against their horse. All is possible to the Lord,
as Dr. Ferguson wisely says. We are as grains of dust in the hollow of
His hand. Yet He hath given us brains wherewith to choose the better
course, and if we neglect it we must suffer the consequence of our
folly.'

Ferguson laughed contemptuously, and breathed out a prayer, but many of
the other Puritans nodded their heads to acknowledge that this was not
an unreasonable view to take of it.

'On the other hand, sire,' Saxon continued, 'it appears to me that to
remain here is equally impossible. Your Ma