rding to his wont," says the Duke of Aumale in his _Histoire des
Princes de Conde,_ "the Bearnese was on horseback whilst his adversary
was banqueting." He outstripped Joyeuse; and when the latter drew near
to Contras, he found the town occupied by the Protestant advance-guard,
and had barely time to fall back upon La Roche-Chalais. The battle began
on the 20th of October, 1587, shortly after sunrise. We will here borrow
the equally dramatic and accurate account of it given by the Duke of
Aumale: "At this solemn moment the King of Navarre calls to his side his
cousins and his principal officers; then, in his manly and sonorous
voice, he addresses his men-at-arms: 'My friends, here is a quarry for
you very different from your past prizes. It is a brand-new bridegroom,
with his marriage-money still in his coffers; and all the cream of the
courtiers are with him. Will you let yourselves go down before this
handsome dancing-master and his minions? No, they are ours; I see it by
your eagerness to fight. Still we must all of us understand that the
event is in the hands of God. Pray we Him to aid us. This deed will be
the greatest that we ever did; the glory will be to God, the service to
our sovereign lord the king, the honor to ourselves, and the benefit to
the state.' Henry uncovers; the clergymen Chandieu and Damours intone
the army's prayer, and the men-at-arms repeat in chorus the twenty-fourth
versicle of the hundred and eighteenth Psalm: 'This is the day which the
Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.' As they were
hastening each to his post, the king detains his cousins a moment.
'Gentlemen,' he shouts, 'I have just one thing to say: remember that you
are of the house of Bourbon; and, as God liveth, I will let you see that
I am your senior.' 'And we will show you some good juniors,' answered
Conde."

Before midday the battle was won and the royalist army routed, but
not without having made a valiant stand. During the action, D'Epinay
Saint-Luc, one of the bravest royalist soldiers, met the Duke of Joyeuse
already wounded. "What's to be done?" he asked. "Die," answered
Joyeuse; and a few moments afterwards, as he was moving away some paces
to the rear in order to get near to his artillery, says D'Aubigne, he was
surrounded by several Huguenots, who recognized him. "There are a
hundred-thousand crowns to be gained," he shouted; but rage was more
powerful than cupidity, and one of them shatter