e
horn of the Alps, the loud appalling roar of the "Bull of Uri," the "Cow
of Unterwalden," which had overwhelmed in panic terror the Austrian
knights at Sempach and Morgarten and which the Burgundians themselves
had heard at Grandson, fell upon their ears; and quickly following the
crash of their own guns which had been captured and turned upon
themselves by their own adversaries, the mountaineers of the
Waldstetten. At the hedge, in the very centre of the conflict, Duke
Charles and Somerset still desperately encouraged their men to a
hopeless resistance. Here in the midst of the carnage was Duke Rene,
leaping from his fallen horse and fighting by the side of Count Louis
under the scarlet banner of Gruyere; here fell Somerset and here fell at
last the great banner of Burgundy in the arms of its dying defender.

Soon the Burgundians were completely surrounded by the rear-guard of the
Swiss, and by the Morat garrison, and Duke Charles breaking his way
through his beaten and disorganized army with a force of three thousand
cavalry, succeeded in making his escape. Red was the water of the little
lake where, in a mad retreat, the Burgundians were drowned in thousands;
red was the battlefield where, after all hope was gone, a still greater
number were massacred in cold blood by the implacable Swiss. "Cruel as
Morat" was the saying which, passing into common speech, commemorated
for centuries this unforgotten conflict.

Ill-prepared to meet the united and well-nigh unconquerable Swiss as was
Duke Charles, the irremediable defeat which he suffered in this
celebrated battle might have been averted. But like a predestined victim
of the gods, driven mad by pride, and surrounded by rumors of the
desertion of his supporters, he had most unhappily chosen the only
Savoyard prince who was unalterably faithful to him, for his distrust,
and had forbidden Count Romont and his strong army of nine thousand men
to take part in the conflict. Thus the able general and the fresh,
unbroken force which might have saved the day watched from a neighboring
hill the the annihilation of the Burgundian army. Retiring at last from
his post of observation when he saw the great banner fall, Count Romont
offered to cover the retreat of the duke, who, still refusing his aid
although deserted by all but a dozen of his guard, fled madly across
country, taking refuge at last at Morges. The fleeing remnant of his
army was pursued by the Lorraine and Gruyere c