Du Guesclin, in smooth but menacing tones. "They have become
good Catholics in spite of themselves, and would very readily return to
their old trade."

Imminent as the danger was, the Pope resisted, and tried to scare off that
flock of reckless war-hawks by the thunders of papal condemnation. But he
soon learned that appeals and threats alike were wasted on the Free
Companies. From the windows of his palace he could see groups of his
unruly visitors at work plundering farms and country houses. Fires were
here and there kindled. The rich lands of Avignon were in danger of a
general ravage.

"What can I do?" said Du Guesclin to the complaints of the people. "My
soldiers are excommunicated. The devil is in them, and we are no longer
their masters."

Evidently there was but one way to get rid of this irreligious crew. The
chiefs agreed to be satisfied with five thousand golden florins. This sum
was paid, and the knights companions, laden with plunder and absolved from
their sins, set out in the highest spirits, singing the praises of their
captain and the joys of war. Such was their farewell to France.

Onward they marched, across the Pyrenees and into Aragon, whose king had
joined with Henry of Trastamara in requesting their presence. They were
far from welcome to the people of this region of Spain. Pedro IV. of
Aragon had agreed to pay them one hundred thousand golden florins on
condition that they should pass through his dominions without disorder;
but the adventurers, imagining that they were already in the enemy's
country, began their usual service of fire and sword. In Barbastro they
pillaged the houses, killed the burghers or tortured them to extort
ransom, and set fire to a church in which some had taken refuge, burning
alive more than two hundred persons.

If such was the course of these freebooting bands in the country of their
friends, what would it be in that of their foes? Every effort was made to
get them out of the country as soon as possible. Immediate action was
needed, for the warlike mountaineers were beginning to revenge the
robberies of the adventurers by waylaying their convoys and killing their
stragglers. In early March, 1366, the frontier was passed, Sir Hugh de
Calverley leading his men against Borja, a town of Aragon which was
occupied by soldiers of Castile.

The garrison fled on their approach, and soon the army entered Castile and
marched upon Calahorra, a town friendly to Prince Henry,