Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 2.djvu/555

1536.] into some kind of form. But he was doubtful of the prospects of the rebellion, and doubtful of his own conduct; the commons of the West Biding beginning to stir, he crossed into Marshland; and passing the Ouse into Howdenshire, he went from village to village, giving orders that no bells should be rung, no beacon should be lighted, except on the receipt of a special message from himself.

Leaving his own county, he again hastened back to his command in Lincolnshire; and by this time he heard of Suffolk's advance with the King's answer to the petition. He rode post to Lincoln, and reached the town to find the commons and the gentlemen on the verge of fighting among themselves. He endeavoured to make his way into the cathedral close, but finding himself suspected by the commons, and being told that he would be murdered if he persevered, he remained in concealment till Suffolk had made known the intentions of the Government; and then, perhaps satisfied that the opportunity was past, perhaps believing that if not made use of on the instant it might never recur, perhaps resigning himself to be guided by events, he went back at full speed to Yorkshire.

And events had decided: whatever his intentions may have been, the choice was no longer open to him.

As he rode down at midnight to the bank of the Humber, the clash of the alarm-bells came pealing far over the water. From hill to hill, from church tower to church tower, the warning lights were shooting. The fishermen on the German Ocean