Chapter 27 - Page 2

The five streets being each secured by a good guard, the reserve
would thus occupy the centre, out of shot, and yet ready to carry
aid wherever it was needed.

Such was the poorness of the neighbourhood that none of the
Lancastrian lords, and but few of their retainers, had been lodged
therein; and the inhabitants, with one accord, deserted their
houses and fled, squalling, along the streets or over garden walls.

In the centre, where the five ways all met, a somewhat ill-favoured
alehouse displayed the sign of the Chequers; and here the Duke of
Gloucester chose his headquarters for the day.

To Dick he assigned the guard of one of the five streets.

"Go," he said, "win your spurs. Win glory for me: one Richard for
another. I tell you, if I rise, ye shall rise by the same ladder.
Go," he added, shaking him by the hand.

But, as soon as Dick was gone, he turned to a little shabby archer
at his elbow.

"Go, Dutton, and that right speedily," he added. "Follow that lad.
If ye find him faithful, ye answer for his safety, a head for a
head. Woe unto you, if ye return without him! But if he be
faithless - or, for one instant, ye misdoubt him - stab him from
behind."

In the meanwhile Dick hastened to secure his post. The street he
had to guard was very narrow, and closely lined with houses, which
projected and overhung the roadway; but narrow and dark as it was,
since it opened upon the market-place of the town, the main issue
of the battle would probably fall to be decided on that spot.

The market-place was full of townspeople fleeing in disorder; but
there was as yet no sign of any foeman ready to attack, and Dick
judged he had some time before him to make ready his defence.

The two houses at the end stood deserted, with open doors, as the
inhabitants had left them in their flight, and from these he had
the furniture hastily tossed forth and piled into a barrier in the
entry of the lane. A hundred men were placed at his disposal, and
of these he threw the more part into the houses, where they might
lie in shelter and deliver their arrows from the windows. With the
rest, under his own immediate eye, he lined the barricade.

Meanwhile the utmost uproar and confusion had continued to prevail
throughout the town; and what with the hurried clashing of bells,
the sounding of trumpets, the swift movement of bodies of horse,
the cries of the commanders, and the shrieks of women, the noise
was almost deafening to the ear. Presently, little by little, the
tumult began to subside; and soon after, files of men in armour and
bodies of archers began to assemble and form in line of battle in
the market-place.

A large portion of this body were in murrey and