down the king's standard-bearer, unhorsing Hastings, who threw himself
on his path; and Edward, setting his teeth in stern joy as he saw him,
rose in his stirrups, and for a moment the mace of the king, the axe
of the earl, met as thunder encounters thunder; but then a hundred
knights rushed into the rescue, and robbed the baffled avenger of his
prey. Thus charging and retreating, driving back with each charge
farther and farther the mighty multitude hounding on to the lion's
death, this great chief and his devoted knights, though terribly
reduced in number, succeeded at last in covering Montagu's skilful
retreat; and when they gained the outskirts of the wood, and dashed
through the narrow opening between the barricades, the Yorkshire
archers approved their lord's trust, and, shouting, as to a marriage
feast, hailed his coming.

But few, alas! of his fellow-horsemen had survived that marvellous
enterprise of valour and despair. Of the fifty knights who had shared
its perils, eleven only gained the wood; and, though in this number
the most eminent (save Sir John Coniers, either slain or fled) might
be found, their horses, more exposed than themselves, were for the
most part wounded and unfit for further service. At this time the sun
again, and suddenly as before, broke forth,--not now with a feeble
glimmer, but a broad and almost a cheerful beam, which sufficed to
give a fuller view than the day had yet afforded of the state and
prospects of the field.

To the right and to the left, what remained of the cavalry of Warwick
were seen flying fast,--gone the lances of Oxford, the bills of
Somerset. Exeter, pierced by the shaft of Alwyn, was lying cold and
insensible, remote from the contest, and deserted even by his squires.