meadows was broken up with bands of horsemen, some cutting their way

towards the borders of the forest, others, who were doubtless of the

Yorkist side, stoutly interposing and beating them back upon the town.

Over all the open ground there lay a prodigious quantity of fallen men

and horses, clearly defined upon the snow.

To complete the picture, those of the foot soldiers as had not found

place upon a ship still kept up an archery combat on the borders of the

port, and from the cover of the shoreside taverns. In that quarter,

also, one or two houses had been fired, and the smoke towered high in the

frosty sunlight, and blew off to sea in voluminous folds.

Already close upon the margin of the woods, and somewhat in the line of

Holywood, one particular clump of fleeing horsemen riveted the attention

of the young watcher on the tower. It was fairly numerous; in no other

quarter of the field did so many Lancastrians still hold together; thus

they had left a wide, discoloured wake upon the snow, and Dick was able

to trace them step by step from where they had left the town.

While Dick stood watching them, they had gained, unopposed, the first

fringe of the leafless forest, and, turning a little from their

direction, the sun fell for a moment full on their array, as it was

relieved against the dusky wood.

Murrey and blue!" cried Dick. "I swear it--murrey and blue!"

The next moment he was descending the stairway.

The Black Arrow