Page:Tudor Jenks--The defense of the castle.djvu/56

32 shout they suddenly struck spurs, shook reins, and dashed downward out of sight.

Seeing this Hugh raised himself in his stirrups and shouted as loudly as he could: "Mortimer!—Mortimer!—a Mortimer to the rescue!" at the same time charging forward with a loud cry. This had the effect he desired, for those who had not yet crossed the brink of the hill, recalled the others, for a hurried consultation. But seeing only one pursuer, the Ferrers men-at-arms left two of their number on guard in the road, while four of them resumed pursuit of the fugitives in front.

Hugh's object being simply to call off from the chase as many men as possible and to detain them as long as he could, he made no attempt to advance upon the two left in the road, but, acting as if he were afraid of them, he wheeled his horse about and took to flight. As he hoped, upon seeing him flee, they pursued, and gradually increased their speed as he showed no sign of resisting them. Hugh also rode faster, getting more speed out oi the white mare than he had supposed she could show. In fact, as he had no wish to run too far away from his pursuers, he had to check the animal from time to time, so that the enemy might not become discouraged. If Hugh had escaped the first pursuit, Ferrers' men