scia. A better selection
could not have been made, for the very name of Bayard had become a
terror to the enemies of France.

When the Venetian commander saw who was leading the assault, he cried
out to encourage his men,--

"Hold fast, comrades! If this _Bayard_ but be defeated, all the rest
will be easy."

But Bayard was not defeated. The splendid charge of his company was met
with a blinding storm of shot from the Venetian guns, but not a man gave
back. Right up to the cannon they charged, shouting in the face of the
fire--"France! France!"--but the cry was changed to "_Bayard_!
_Bayard!_" as the chevalier leaped the ramparts, crying,

"Follow me!"

And they did follow.

Only for an instant Bayard's tall form was seen in the thick of his
enemies, his black eyes blazing with the fire of battle. The next moment
he fell, face downward, in the struggling mass, with a Venetian pike
thrust through his thigh.

When word was carried to the Duke of Nemours that Bayard had fallen, he
exclaimed,--

"Let us go, my friends and comrades, and avenge the death of the most
accomplished knight that ever lived." And they swept forward with the
brave duke, completing the victory that Bayard had so well begun. The
Venetian loss in this battle exceeded twenty thousand, while the French
loss was less than fifty men.

When the French occupied the town, they gave themselves over to all
kinds of excesses, perpetrating atrocious cruelties on defenceless women
and children, and pillaging convents and churches for their riches.

The soldiers in those days were, in the main, rough and brutal men; but
there were always among them many knightly gentlemen, who never failed
to use their utmost power to protect the defenceless. Such a gentleman
was Bayard, and he was never known to allow cruelties where it was in
his power to prevent them. But--alas for the wretched city--the knight
without reproach was now helpless!

Having been mortally wounded, as all supposed, the chevalier was carried
by two of his men to a large mansion within the town, that he might
receive needed attention.

The Brescian citizen who owned the house had fled upon the entry of the
French, leaving his wife and two beautiful daughters alone and
unprotected.

Now when Bayard's men brought their wounded captain to the house, the
lady herself opened the gate, and assisted the men in making the knight
comfortable. Bayard's first order to the two soldiers was that the