g as his sword. And
thereupon begins to pass before us, brilliant as the long-drawn scenes
of a dissolving view, the strange and splendid series of his exploits.
He had not ceased to be a page ten days before the court was ringing
with his name.

Sir Claude de Vauldre, Lord of Burgundy, was regarded as the stoutest
knight in France. He was then at Lyons, and was about to hold a tilt,
with lance and battle-axe, before the ladies and the king. His shield
was hanging in the Ainay meadows, and beside it Montjoy, the
king-at-arms, sat all day with his book open, taking down the names of
those who struck the shield. Among these came Bayard. Montjoy laughed as
he wrote down his name; the king, Lord Ligny, and his own companions,
heard with mingled trepidation and delight that Bayard had struck the
blazon of Sir Claude. But no one had a thought of what was coming. The
day arrived, the tilt was held, and Bayard, by the voice of all the
ladies, bore off the prize above the head of every knight in Lyons.

The glory of this exploit was extreme. It quickly spread. Three days
later Bayard went to join the garrison at Aire. He found, as he rode
into the little town, that the fame of his achievement had arrived
before him. Heads were everywhere thrust out of windows, and a band of
fifty of his future comrades issued on horseback from the garrison to
bid him welcome. A few days after his arrival he held a tilt in his own
person, after the example of Sir Claude. The palms were a diamond and a
clasp of gold. Forty-eight of his companions struck his shield, and rode
into the lists against him. Bayard overthrew the whole band, one by one,
and was once more hailed at sunset by the notes of trumpets as the
champion of the tourney.

It is not in tournaments and tilts, however, that a knight can win his
spurs. Bayard burned for battle. For many months he burned in vain; but
at last the banners of the king were given to the wind, and Bayard, to
his unspeakable delight, found himself marching under Lord Ligny against
Naples.

The two armies faced each other at Fornovo. The odds against the French
were six to one, and the fight was long and bloody. When the great
victory was at last decided, Bayard was among the first of those called
up before the king. That day two horses had dropped dead beneath him;
his cuirass and sword were hacked and battered, and a captured standard,
blazing with the arms of Naples, was in his hand. At the king's order