The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-10-25
THE LAST OF
 THE BAR0NS
tcons,..ea from Page Seven,

urers fioclxed to hls standards first, then the disappointed, the needy and the ambitious
 At Newark. Edwards arrival threw the forces of Warwick's lieutenants into such a confusion of counsels and minds that they fled. When foes fly, friends start up from the very earth. Almost ove- night Edward saw a kings army under him. Then the audacious perjufer threw away the mask, and sent forth not the humble prayer of the attained Duke of York. but the procla- nation of a ~engeful king.
 Warwick had not been idle. The mo- mcnt he heard of Edwards landing, he dispatched orders to Montagu to give him battle; but his message did not reach his brother, while Clarence's traitorous aII false one did. War wick hurried to Coventry 10 marshal his forces there, after hastily making provisions for the defense of London.
 Then fell the first blow. Clarence fled to Edwards camp with all his men.
 Warwick had loved Clarence. His treachery struck him as a poisoned dagger, but still more deeply did his true and honest heart bleed at the knowledge that his own child had abetted the treason.
 Grief-stficken but undismayed, he gathered his army and marched to London. There the second blow await ed him. Treason had been at work within its walls. Edwards adherents had risen. and, helped by the citizens. had imprisoned Henry in the Tower and held the city for York.
 Warwick saw now that all calcula- tions were at an end. He must com init all to the hazard of one battle.
 Silently. with a heart over-charged. the kingTnaher turned away from the walls and prepared for that fight which was to be his last. Stricken in his own kindred, wounded to death through his loves. the great baron still betrayed little of his feelings to his army. but cheered them on with stout and brave words.
 sullen and dense fog. that was to be fateful covered the arraying of the two armies on that heath at Glads- moor where the issue between barons and king was to be decided forever. In this crowning hour the vast and gi- gantIc destiny of the Earl comprc hended all on which its darkness or it's light had fallen, great and humble.
 On this very day Margaret and her son with Lady Warwick and Anne, landed at last in England. On a It, tie eminence above the heath stood a splendid litter surrounded by priests and men-at-arms. Iniit sat Henry VI. whom his enemies had brought from the Tower that he might behold the end of his hopes. Near by, in another knot of armed men. stood Syb'll and her father the latter with rope around his neck, while at his feet stood the mechanical" viewed with fear by the soldiers.
 The necromancers of the Duchess of Bedford had convinced her that War ner had made charms to bring victory to Warwick. and they had brought him to the battlefield that they might counteract his incantations and at the fitting moment destroy his terrible fa- miliar demon.
 Sybill looked on the dreary omens of the awful day with despair, not only for her fathers plight, but for her own. On the very eve of battle she had learned that Hastings, who rode with the King, false to- his vows to her. had married another The gloomy smokes of mist that wreathed around her were not more, gloomy than her breaking heart.
 Thus, dragged inexorably into the whirlpool of warwick's mighty fate, all scattered rlvulets of life seemed to hasten at last to merge.
 In polished mali with his head bare so that his golden locks shone through the haze, Edward rode between hls lines, crying: Spare not either king or commons! No quarter! Stay all! Stay all!"
 Warwick saw the hosts of Gloucester charge. He swung the terrible battle ax and galloped head long to meet the shock. Through the mists the blood red mantle and the grinning boar's head that Richard of f9lnMPaSfpr ahnVa hal nf flashed and sleamed iercely. Blood followed the path of the sinister ig- ure. Tide on tide of riders fell on Warwick's men. but ever the earls black armor. black plume, black steed gloomed forth like a thunder cloud in the midst of dlsmaf heaven. The steed itself was scarcely less terrible to encounter than the rider. Protect ed by a coat of steel, the spike which projected from its barbed frontal drip ped with blood as it secured along
 Even in that moment, however, Warwick spared Richard again and again as they met, contenting himself with warding off his blows.
 Gloucester's forces began to melt away. Edward. who had driven the forces of Somerset before him, charged to the attack on Warwick. And now the mists played their part of doom Oxford charged on the King. His. 'sil- yer standard. dimlY seen in the fog by Warwick's men. was mistaken for the Sun of York on Edwards banners. Friend fell on friend. The fearful cry, 'Treasoni Treason" rang through the curtained battlefield.
 Before Warwick and MontaRu could rally their army Oxford was in flight. Exeter lay dead Somerset's men scarely lv reformed. were feeling again, hope lessly this time. and Edward. Glouces- ter. Clarence and Hastings came driv- ing down together. concentrating in one black tumult against Warwick and his brother.
 Yet even then a single sword almost served to turn the flood of battle Three times did Warwick penetrate into the very midst of Edwards bodyguard. fellinG all before him. He smote down the kings standard bearer, unhorsed Hastings. killed Lord Cromwell and the Lord of Say, and Edward setting his teeth in stern joy. met the ax of the Earl with his enormous mace as thunder might encounter thunder
 But a hundred knights rode to the rescue. More and more did the multi tudes of spears and axes mass to the lions death. Inch by inch Warwick was driven back to the covert where his archers had massed to protect his retreat.
 "The mists are needed no moore" cried the necromancers who had made incantations to hold them over the field. At a signal from them the soldiers drew on the cord and swung Adam Warmers body into the air. Syvill shrieked and fell. Heaven was merci- full to her for in that moment her soul parted from her body The necro- 4tR