He came up with them upon Hardenberg Heath, in a broiling summer forenoon.

His men were jaded by the forced march, overcame with the heat, tormented with thirst, and unable to procure even a drop of water.

The royalists were fresh so that the result of the contest was easily to be foreseen.

Hohenlo's army was annihilated in an hour's time, the whole population fled out of Coewerden, the siege of Groningen was raised; Renneberg was set free to resume his operations on a larger scale, and the fate of all the north-eastern provinces was once more swinging in the wind.

The boors of Drenthe and Friesland rose again.