As the dispirited army marched back they received news which somewhat raised their hearts.  The king had marched after Essex into Cornwall, and there had driven him into sore straits.  He had endeavored to induce Essex to make a general treaty of peace; but the earl replied that he had no authority to treat, and that, even did he do so, the Parliament would not submit to be bound by it.  With a considerable portion of his cavalry, he succeeded in passing through the Royal lines; but the whole of the infantry under General Skippon were forced to capitulate, the king giving them honorable terms, and requiring only the surrender of the artillery, arms, and ammunition.  The whole of the army returned as scattered fugitives to London.

The king resolved again to march upon the capital.  Montrose was now in arms in Scotland, and had gained two considerable victories over the Covenanters.  The defeat at Marston had been outbalanced by the victories over Waller and Essex, and the Scotch, alarmed by the successes of Montrose, were ready to listen to terms, Steadily the king advanced eastward, and at Newbury the armies again met.  As upon the previous occasion on that field, the battle led to no decisive results.  Each side fought stoutly, and at nightfall separated without achieving substantial results.  The king fell back upon Oxford, and the Parliament army upon Readings and negotiations were once again renewed between king and Parliament.

CHAPTER XII.

An escape from prison.

There was no sadder or more gloomy face among the officers of the Parliament than that of Herbert Rippinghall—­sad, not from the sour asceticism which distinguished the great portion of these officers, but from his regrets over the struggle in which he was taking a part.  While Harry Furness saw much to find fault with in the conduct of many of his fellows, and in the obstinacy with which the king refused to grant concessions which might up to this time have restored peace to the land, Herbert, on his side, was shocked at the violence and excessive demands on the part of the Parliament, and at the rank hypocrisy which he saw everywhere around him.  Both lads still considered that the balance of justice was on the side upon which they fought.  But both, Herbert perhaps because more thoughtful, therefore more strongly, saw that the faults upon one side balanced those upon the other.  Herbert had not taken up the sword willingly, as Harry had done.  He was by disposition far less prone to adventure and more given to sober thought, and the violence of his father and the bigoted opinions which he held had repelled him from rather than attracted him toward the principles which he advocated.  When, however, the summons came from his father to join him at Reading, with the rest of the hands employed in the business, he did not hesitate.  He still hoped that the pacific party in Parliament would overcome the more violent, and that the tyranny of a small minority toward which the country appeared to be drifting would be nipped in the bud.