“I thought it would be a wonderful thing if they had burnt all thy ships, Ben,” said Jack Drumbleforth. “Why, you old miser, you ought to have given that money to the King’s cause.”
“Will the King set me up in business again?” asked Ben. “I trow not, lads. Every man for himself, say I. If his Majesty would but come and relieve us, I would not object to parting with some of my store, but he delays so long that I fear he will never come at all.”
On the 3rd of June, however, there came to us letters from Newark, conveying intelligence of a great victory achieved by the King at Leicester. His Majesty had made a vigorous assault upon that town, and had finally carried the siege, making the garrison prisoners to the number of fifteen hundred, and securing an immense booty, which was instantly divided amongst the Royalist soldiers. Upon learning this news we were all greatly pleased, and Ben Tuckett so far plucked up his fallen spirits as to offer to lead a sally against the Roundheads in their trenches.
We now lived in daily hopes of seeing the arrival of a great force charged with the mission of relieving us, but we heard of nothing until the 6th of June, when a prisoner taken in the Castle mill informed us that the King’s troops were coming to our relief, and had already reached Tuxford. He further said that the Parliamentary forces were retreating northward before the King, and would probably assemble in our neighbourhood, where a great battle was therefore to be expected shortly. This information we believed to be true, for two days later there came a great body of Parliamentary horse from the southward, which had been obliged to quit their quarters about Doncaster and Tickhill. The next day, too, we heard heavy firing in the direction of Sheffield, and from this circumstance augured that our friends were drawing near. Two days, however, passed away, and no relief force appeared, so that we knew not what to think. Nevertheless, we were so far from being cast down by the delay, that on the 11th we made a great sally from the Castle in different directions, and prevailed so mightily against the enemy that we left forty of them dead upon the field, and brought eleven prisoners into the Castle, together with a great supply of muskets, pikes, and ammunition, which we found in their trenches and outworks. As for our own losses, they were but very slight, for none of our men were killed, and only two wounded.
We heard no more news until the 16th of June, when General Poyntz, commander of the Parliamentary forces at Pontefract, sent a drum to the Castle with a letter for Sir William Lowther, in which it was stated that a great battle had been fought at Naseby two days previously, whereat the King had been utterly routed, nearly two thousand Royalists having been left dead on the field and five thousand taken prisoners, together with all the King’s artillery and baggage. The letter further summoned us to surrender at once, saying that it were best policy to do so while mercy was yet to be hoped for, for there was now a great Parliamentary force at hand, and we should shortly be obliged to submit whether we would or not.
Now, we did not believe this news, because we had but a little time previously received letters from Newark, dated June 14th, in which Colonel Washington informed us that his Majesty was at that time at Melton Mowbray, and was preparing to march forward to our assistance. We therefore regarded General Poyntz’s letter as a trick of the enemy, and Sir William Lowther immediately informed the officer who had brought it that he neither feared the forces that might come against us, nor valued the mercy which was offered, and bade him begone with that answer to his commander. We were subsequently strengthened in our belief that General Poyntz’s news was false by the reception of more letters from Newark, in which the King was still spoken of as advancing to succour us. But as the days passed on no help came, and we presently began to wonder whether our information was correct or not. Shortly, however, we received news from our own friends of the battle of Naseby, but their account differed vastly from that given us by General Poyntz; for whereas he had represented the affair as a Roundhead victory, our informants told us that the fight had been resumed after the defeat of the King, and that our forces rallying had put the Parliamentary troops to flight, routing them utterly and slaying thousands of them, including General Cromwell.
We continued in this fashion for many days after that, now hearing one thing and now another, and hardly knowing which rumour to believe. Meanwhile, our enemy often received reinforcements which came marching from north or south as the case might be, and formed fresh obstacles to our success. The siege went on in the same fashion, each side doing its best to cripple the other. But while we were able to slay many of the Roundheads, they did us little damage owing to our secure position. Nevertheless, we had an enemy inside the Castle whose power we feared far more than even the terrible Cromwell himself. This was starvation, which now began to creep upon us slowly but very surely. By the 27th of June, we had no fresh provisions whatever, and there was no prospect of relief coming to us from any quarter. This scarcity of food bred discouragement and discontent amongst our men, several of whom deserted at this time.
We were now indeed in a sad plight. The help which
