e, he did not care to
miss it; he placed himself in ambush before day-break, with a hundred
picked men-at-arms, close to a village from which the pope was to issue.
"The pope, who was pretty early, mounted his litter, so soon as he saw
the dawn, and the clerics and officers of all kinds went before without a
thought of anything. When the good knight heard them he sallied forth
from his ambush, and went charging down upon the rustics, who, sore
dismayed, turned back again, pricking along with loosened rein and
shouting, Alarm! alarm! But all that would have been of no use but for
an accident very lucky for the holy father, and very unfortunate for the
good knight. When the pope had mounted his litter, he was not a stone's
throw gone when there fell from heaven the most sharp and violent shower
that had been seen for a hundred years. 'Holy father,' said the Cardinal
of Pavia to the pope, 'it is not possible to go along this country so
long as this lasts; meseems you must turn back again; 'to which the pope
agreed; but, just as he was arriving at St. Felix, and was barely
entering within the castle, he heard the shouts of the fugitives whom the
good knight was pursuing as hard as he could spur; whereupon he had such
a fright, that, suddenly and without help, he leaped out of his litter,
and himself did aid in hauling up the bridge; which was doing like a man
of wits, for had he waited until one could say a _Pater noster,_ he had
been snapped up. Who was right down grieved, that was the good knight;
never man turned back so melancholic as he was to have missed so fair a
take; and the pope, from the good fright he had gotten, shook like a
palsy the live-long day." [_Histoire du ben Chevalier Ballard,_ t. i.
pp. 346-349.]

[Illustration: Chaumont d'Amboise----350]

From 1510 to 1512 the war in Italy was thus proceeding, but with no great
results, when Gaston de Foix, Duke of Nemours, came to take the command
of the French army. He was scarcely twenty-three, and had hitherto only
served under Trivulzio and La Palisse; but he had already a character for
bravery and intelligence in war. Louis XII. loved this son of his
sister, Mary of Orleans, and gladly elevated him to the highest rank.
Gaston, from the very first, justified this favor. Instead of seeking
for glory in the field only, he began by shutting himself up in Milan,
which the Swiss were besieging. They made him an offer to take the road
back to Switzerland