dro, who was the stronger, being uppermost. While he
felt desperately for a weapon with which to pierce his antagonist, one of
those present seized him by the foot and threw him on one side, so that
Henry found himself uppermost. Popular tradition says that it was Du
Guesclin's hand that did this act, and that he cried, "I neither make nor
unmake kings, but I serve my lord;" but some writers say it was the
Viscount de Rocaberti, of Aragon.

However that be, Henry at once took advantage of the opportunity, picked
up his dagger, lifted the king's coat of mail, and plunged the weapon
again and again into his side. Only two of Don Pedro's companions sought
to defend him, and they were killed on the spot. Henry had his brother's
head at once cut off, and despatched the gruesome relic to Seville.

Thus perished, by an uncalled-for act of treachery on the part of Du
Guesclin, for the castle must soon have surrendered, one of the most
bloodthirsty kings who ever sat upon a throne. Don Fadrique, his brother,
and Blanche of Bourbon, his wife, both of whom he had basely murdered,
were at length avenged. Henry ascended the throne as Henry II., and for
years reigned over Castile with a mild and just rule that threw still
deeper horror upon the bloody career of him who is known in history as
Peter the Cruel.

THE GREAT CAPTAIN.

The long and bitter war for the conquest of Granada filled Spain with
trained soldiers and skilful leaders, men who had seen service on a
hundred fields, grim, daring veterans, without their equals in Europe. The
Spanish foot-soldiers of that day were inflexibly resolute, the cavalry
were skilled in the brilliant tactics of the Moors, and the leaders were
men experienced in all the arts of war. These were the soldiers who in the
New World overthrew empires with a handful of adventurers, and within a
fraction of a century conquered a continent for Spain. In Europe they were
kept actively employed. Charles VIII. of France, moved by ambition and
thirst for glory, led an army of invasion into Italy. He was followed in
this career of foreign conquest by his successor, Louis XII. The armies of
France were opposed by those of Spain, led by the greatest soldier of the
age, Gonsalvo de Cordova, a man who had learned the art of war in Granada,
but in Italy showed such brilliant and remarkable powers that he gained
the distinguishing title of the Great Captain.

These wars were stretched out over years, an