But whatever his intention may have been, it was thwarted by the visitation of a power more potent than all the hosts of the King.  Nature, herself, frowned upon him and his schemes and swept them all to ruin in the rush of angry waters.  The rain that began the day Sir Aymer De Lacy made his forced ride from Sheffield to Lincoln had continued with but indifferent diminution for the whole of the following week.  As a result, the greatest flood the West of England ever knew poured down through the Severn and its tributaries, destroying fords and bridges, overwhelming hamlets and villages, and drowning scores upon scores of the inhabitants.  In the face of this hostile manifestation of Providence, which washed out ardor and bred disaffection and something of superstitious terror, as it held them fast behind the impassable river, Buckingham’s followers began to waver; then to drop away; and finally, when it became known that his very castle of Brecknock had been seized by Sir Thomas Vaughan, and that almost before he was out of sight of its towers, they forsook him forthwith, as rats a sinking ship.

All these matters came to the King by messengers from time to time; for he had paid no heed to Buckingham, but had hurried Southward, gathering his forces as he went.  His strategy was to throw himself between Stafford and his confederates; cut the latter up in detail; and then hurl himself upon the Earl of Richmond at the quickest possible moment.  But as the royal army advanced into the disaffected districts, the revolt faded away like fog before the sun; and without striking a blow or laying lance in rest, it marched into Salisbury.  And thus it was that when the Tudor arrived off Plymouth, he found no greeting but an adverse wind and a hostile populace.  So he wore ship and turned back to Brittany, making no effort to aid those who had proclaimed him at risk of life and fortune.  But such was ever Henry’s way.

In these days of strain and striving Sir Aymer de Lacy had few hours of leisure.  He who was of the Third Richard’s household must needs keep pace with a master in whose slender body was concentrated the energy of many men, and who in times of war never rested nor grew tired.

The Darby episode had been whispered through the Court; and speculation was rife as to the truth of the accusation.  Nor was it set at rest when he overtook the array without the flat-nosed Simon Gorges among his retainers.  The King, however, seemed to treat him as though the matter were ended; and the courtiers, noting it, were quick to trim to the royal wind.

Yet on the very night of Darby’s arrival, had Richard held council with De Lacy, and secret instruction had gone forth to keep him under constant surveillance and on no account whatever to permit him to separate from the army.