the men." Lorges at once obeyed, and the retreat was carried out so
cleverly that not ten men we're lost. The Emperor's people were still
seeking for the Good Knight when he had already reached Biagrasso and
spoken his mind to the Admiral. Bayard was quite broken-hearted at the
misfortune which had befallen him, although it was certainly not his fault,
but there is more chance in war than in anything else.

Still, there was more than chance in these disasters of the French in
Italy. They had quite miscalculated the strength of their enemies, amongst
whom was now the famous general, Charles de Bourbon, late Constable of
France. The young French King, at a time when Spain, England, and Italy
were all against him, had most unwisely deprived Bourbon of the whole of
his vast estates by means of a legal quibble; and his greatest subject,
driven to desperation by this ungrateful treatment, had passed over to the
service of Charles V., and was now in command of the Spanish army. It was
he who urged the immediate pursuit of the French when Bonnivet, discouraged
by ill success and sickness in his camp, retreated from his strong position
at Biagrasso. He made one blunder after another, for now that it was too
late he sent a messenger to raise a levy of six thousand Swiss to join him
by way of Ivria.

According to his usual gallant custom, as the army retired with forced
marches towards the Alps, Bayard took command of the rear-guard, and as the
Spaniards followed day by day he bore all the brunt of the constant
skirmishing which took place. It was a most perilous office, for the enemy
was well provided with artillery, and when the Good Knight made a gallant
charge with his company and drove back the men-at-arms, he would be
attacked by a shower of stones from the arquebusiers. He seemed to bear a
charmed life, though ever in the post of danger, for others were wounded or
killed while he escaped unhurt until a certain fatal day when the
retreating French army had reached the valley of the Sesia beyond Novara.
Here it was that Bonnivet saw his expected troop of Swiss allies on the
opposite bank of the river, and at once sent word to them to cross over and
join him. But what was his dismay when the Swiss captains replied that the
King of France had not paid them or kept his word, and they had come to
fetch away their comrades who were in the French army. Worse still, when
this became known, all the Swiss mercenaries in his camp rose