encouragement to the men. For the first time that day
Cromwell's Ironsides gave back before the Royalists, who in
that fierce, irresistible charge, swept all before them until
they had reached the battery on Perry Wood, and driven the
Roundheads from it hell-to-leather.

It was a glorious moment, a moment in which the fortunes of the
day hung in the balance; the turn of the tide it seemed to them
at last.

Crispin was among the first to reach the guns, and with a great
shout of "Hurrah for Cavaliers!" he had cut down two gunners
that yet lingered. His cry lacked not an echo, and a deafening
cheer broke upon the clamorous air as the Royalists found
themselves masters of the position. Up the hill on either side
pressed the Duke of Hamilton and the Earl of Derby to support
the King. It but remained for Lesley's Scottish horse to
follow and complete the rout of the Parliamentarian forces.
Had they moved at that supreme moment who shall say what had
been the issue of Worcester field? But they never stirred, and
the Royalists waiting on Perry Wood cursed Lesley for a foul
traitor who had sold his King.

With bitterness did they then realize that their great effort
was to be barren, their gallant charge in vain. Unsupported,
their position grew fast untenable.

And presently, when Cromwell had gathered his scattered
Ironsides, that gallant host was driven fighting, down the hill
and back to the shelter of Worcester. With the Roundheads