cattle, and even Sir Thomas Tyldesley was unable to protect the royalists from his oppression.[199] [Illustration: The Campaign of Preston] About the middle of August Hamilton marched slowly southward, his army covering many miles of country. The Earl of Callander, his Lieutenant-General in command of the cavalry, was far in advance of the main body of the Scottish infantry under Hamilton himself, while Monro with the Ulster Scots was far in the rear. Langdale with the English royalists marched on the west of the main body. By this time Cromwell was hotly in pursuit, and as usual his rate of march was very different from the leisurely progress of the Scots. He had reached Leicester when Hamilton was at Kendal, and Nottingham on August 5th. Advancing northwards he waited for three days at Doncaster for his ammunition to come from Hull; and on August 13th he was joined near Wetherby by Lambert, who had quartered there with 5,000 men to cover the siege of Pontefract. Next day the combined armies marched to Otley, sending on their guns to Knaresborough in order to march more swiftly. Advancing along the Ribble Valley, Cromwell reached Skipton on August 14th, and on the 15th quartered his men round Gisburn; next day they advanced to the Bridge over the Ribble, at Clitheroe.[200] Here a council of war was held to decide whether to cross the bridge, there being no other between that place and Preston, and so march along the north bank of the Ribble, or to turn south-westwards through Whalley in order to intercept Hamilton's march further on. Cromwell, however, was determined to fight as soon as possible, though he had less than 9,000 men to 24,000 of the Scots; and believing that Hamilton would make a stand at Preston his army crossed the Ribble and marched swiftly along the northern bank. The 10,000 men with whom Hamilton had entered England had been increased by reinforcement; Langdale's detachment numbered about 4,000 and Munro's not quite 3,000 men. But their superiority in numbers was entirely discounted by the disordered condition of their line of march, which stretched from Wigan to Kirkby Lonsdale, a distance of nearly 50 miles. Moreover they were evidently quite ignorant of Cromwell's approach until the very day before he burst upon them.[201]