Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 4.djvu/453

1549.] through which they had fought their way. Seeing, or believing that he saw, parties of the enemy again collecting in force in the rear, he sent word to Russell to be on his guard; and as a precaution which the peril of so small an army might have seemed to justify, the prisoners were put to the sword. But so long as daylight continued, there was no further attack. The foot followed the horse over the water and encamped.

In the night they were fired on from the hills. The next day, Monday, there was again a battle, and Grey, who had led the charge on the Scotch infantry at Musselburgh, said that 'such was the valour and the stoutness of the men, that he never, in all the wars he had been in, did know the like.' But the disproportion of numbers seems to have been less than before. Russell on this occasion was able to surround the enemy and prevent their retreat, and the fight ended in a general massacre.

The danger was now over. Monday night the army rested at Topsham; on Tuesday morning, August the 6th, the red dragon was floating on the walls of Exeter, the city was open, and the lean faces of the inhabitants were lighted with hopes of food. The rebels were gone. The same day Sir William Herbert came up with a thousand Welsh mountaineers, 'too late for the work, but soon enough for the play,' 'for the whole country was put to the spoil, and every soldier fought