ed
men-at-arms. Every one would fain have set out in pursuit; but the good
knight said to the Duke of Nemours, who was all covered with blood and
brains from one of his men-at-arms, that had been carried off by a
cannon-ball, 'My lord, are you wounded?' 'No,' said the duke, 'but I
have wounded a many others.' 'Now, God be praised!' said Bayard; 'you
have gained the battle, and abide this day the most honored prince in the
world; but push not farther forward; reassemble your men-at-arms in this
spot; let none set on to pillage yet, for it is not time; Captain Louis
d'Ars and I are off after these fugitives that they may not retire behind
their foot; but stir not, for any man living, from here, unless Captain
Louis d'Ars or I come hither to fetch you.' "The Duke of Nemours
promised; but whilst he was biding on his ground, awaiting Bayard's
return, he said to the Baron du Chimay,--"an honest gentleman who had
knowledge," says Fleuranges, "of things to come, and who, before the
battle, had announced to Gaston that he would gain it, but he would be in
danger of being left there if God did not do him grace,--Well, Sir
Dotard, am I left there, as you said? Here I am still.' 'Sir, it is not
all over yet,' answered Chimay; whereupon there arrived an archer, who
came and said to the duke, 'My lord, yonder be two thousand Spaniards,
who are going off all orderly along the causeway.' 'Certes,' said
Gaston, 'I cannot suffer that; whoso loves me, follow me.' And resuming
his arms he pushed forward. 'Wait for your men,' said Sire de Lautrec to
him; but Gaston took no heed, and followed by only twenty or thirty
men-at-arms, he threw himself upon those retreating troops." He was
immediately surrounded, thrown from his horse, and defending himself all
the while, "like Roland at Roncesvalles," say the chroniclers, he fell
pierced with wounds. "Do not kill him," shouted Lautrec; "it is the
brother of your queen." Lautrec himself was so severely handled and
wounded that he was thought to be dead. Gaston really was, though the
news spread but slowly. Bayard, returning with his comrades from
pursuing the fugitives, met on his road the Spanish force that Gaston had
so rashly attacked, and that continued to retire in good order. Bayard
was all but charging them, when a Spanish captain came out of the ranks
and said to him, in his own language, "What would you do, sir? You are
not powerful enough to beat us; you have won the battle