, sending word to Bayard to make haste.

The French knights rode at such a pace that they reached the gate of the
town at the same time as the Italians, and with their cry of "France!
France!" they managed to keep the gate open until the arrival of the Good
Knight and the rest of their company, when after some sharp fighting it
was strongly held. They also secured the other gate of the town, but two
Albanians managed to escape and carry news of the disaster to a company of
four thousand Swiss about three miles off.

Prospero Colonna was surprised at dinner, and would have defended himself,
but when he saw that defence was hopeless he yielded himself most
reluctantly to this Bayard, whom he had vowed "that he would catch like a
pigeon in a cage." As he cursed his ill-fortune in having been thus taken
by surprise, instead of meeting the French in the open field, the Good
Knight with his usual courteous chivalry tried to comfort him, saying: "My
lord Prospero, it is the fortune of war! You lose now, and will win next
time! As for meeting us in the open field, it would be a great pleasure to
us French, for if you knew our men when they are roused to battle you would
not find it easy to escape...." The Italian lord replied coldly: "In any
case I should have been glad to have the chance of meeting!"

Besides Colonna, several great captains were taken prisoners, and the place
was found to be full of rich spoils, gold and silver plate, splendid
equipments, and above all in value, six or seven hundred valuable horses.
Unfortunately for the French they were not able to carry away all this, for
news arrived of the approach of the Swiss troop which had been summoned;
indeed they entered Villafranca at one gate as the French rode out with
their prisoners on the other side, but there could be no pursuit as the
Swiss were all on foot.

The chief military advantage of this wonderful raid was that it kept all
these Italian horsemen away from the coming battle at Marignano.

Francis I. was delighted to hear of Bayard's success, and finding that the
Swiss were retreating towards Milan he followed in pursuit of them, took
Novara on the way, and advanced with his army as far as Marignano.

A terrible melee followed, for as the light failed confusion increased. We
hear of a most striking adventure which befell the Good Knight Bayard late
in the evening. His horse had been killed under him, and the second which
he mounted became so franti