And now , with your good leave , I follow mine affairs . '' And thrusting on one side the priest , who seemed stupefied at the news , Dick pushed open the door and rattled up the stairs four at a bound , and without pause or stumble , till he stepped upon the open platform at the top . Shoreby Church tower not only commanded the town , as in a map , but looked far , on both sides , over sea and land . It was now near upon noon ; the day exceeding bright , the snow dazzling . And as Dick looked around him , he could measure the consequences of the battle . A confused , growling uproar reached him from the streets , and now and then , but very rarely , the clash of steel . Not a ship , not so much as a skiff remained in harbour ; but the sea was dotted with sails and row-boats laden with fugitives . On shore , too , the surface of the snowy meadows was broken up with bands of horsemen , some cutting their way towards the borders of the forest , others , who were doubtless of the Yorkist side , stoutly interposing and beating them back upon the town . Over all the open ground there lay a prodigious quantity of fallen men and horses , clearly defined upon the snow . To complete the picture , those of the foot soldiers as had not found place upon a ship still kept up an archery combat on the borders of the port , and from the cover of the shoreside taverns . In that quarter , also , one or two houses had been fired , and the smoke towered high in the frosty sunlight , and blew off to sea in voluminous folds . Already close upon the margin of the woods , and somewhat in the line of Holywood , one particular clump of fleeing horsemen riveted the attention of the young watcher on the tower . It was fairly numerous ; in no other quarter of the field did so many Lancastrians still hold together ; thus they had left a wide , discoloured wake upon the snow , and Dick was able to trace them step by step from where they had left the town . While Dick stood watching them , they had gained , unopposed , the first fringe of the leafless forest , and , turning a little from their direction , the sun fell for a moment full on their array , as it was relieved against the dusky wood . `` Murrey and blue ! '' cried Dick . `` I swear it -- murrey and blue ! '' The next moment he was descending the stairway . It was now his business to seek out the Duke of Gloucester , who alone , in the disorder of the forces , might be able to supply him with a sufficiency of men . The fighting in the main town was now practically at an end ; and as Dick ran hither and thither , seeking the commander , the streets were thick with wandering soldiers , some laden with more booty than they could well stagger under , others shouting drunk .
None of them , when questioned , had the least notion of the duke 's whereabouts ; and , at last , it was by sheer good fortune that Dick found him , where he sat in the saddle directing operations to dislodge the archers from the XXXXX side .
Dick Gloucester Lancastrians Murrey Yorkist first harbour left noon row-boats