advanced on Bristol last night, we might have been on
the right side of the ramparts by now.'

'But we had no thought that the enemy's foot was so near!' exclaimed
Wade.

'I told ye what would come of it, and so did Oberst Buyse and the worthy
Mayor of Taunton,' Saxon answered. 'However, there is nought to be
gained by mourning over a broken pipkin. We must e'en piece it together
as best we may.'

'Let us advance on Bristol, and put oor trust in the Highest,' quoth
Ferguson. 'If it be His mighty will that we should tak' it, then
shall we enter into it, yea, though drakes and sakers lay as thick as
cobblestanes in the streets.'

'Aye! aye! On to Bristol! God with us!' cried several of the Puritans
excitedly.

'But it is madness--dummheit--utter foolishness,' Buyse broke in hotly.
'You have the chance and you will not take it. Now the chance is gone
and you are all eager to go. Here is an army of, as near as I can judge,
five thousand men on the right side of the river. We are on the wrong
side, and yet you talk of crossing and making a beleaguering of Bristol
without breaching-pieces or spades, and with this force in our rear.
Will the town make terms when they can see from their ramparts the van
of the army which comes to help them? Or does it assist us in fighting
the army to have a strong town beside us, from which horse and foot can
make an outfall upon our flank? I say again that it is madness.'

What the German soldier said was so clearly the truth that even the
fanatics were silenced. Away in the east the long shimmering lines
of steel, and the patches of scarlet upon the green hillside, were
arguments which the most thoughtless could not overlook.

'What would you advise, then?' asked Monmouth moodily, tapping his
jewelled riding-whip against his high boots.

'To cross the river and come to hand-grips with them ere they can
get help from the town,' the burly German answered bluntly. 'I cannot
understand what we are here for if it be not to fight. If we win, the
town must fall. If we lose, We have had a bold stroke for it, and can do
no more.'

'Is that your opinion, too, Colonel Saxon?' the King asked.

'Assuredly, your Majesty, if we can fight to advantage. We can scarce
do that, however, by crossing the river on a single narrow bridge in
the face of such a force. I should advise that we destroy this Keynsham
Bridge, and march down this southern bank in the hope of forcing a fight
in a position whic