hing was farther from the mind of the treacherous monarch
than to carry out the promises which he had made in exile. He dared not,
however, openly avow his intentions; but, trusting to the chapter of
accidents, he told the prince that at Burgos he could not collect a
sufficient sum; but if the army would march into Leon and take up their
quarters near Valladolid, he himself would proceed to Seville, and would
as soon as possible collect the money which he had bound himself to
furnish. The plan was adopted. Edward marched his troops to Valladolid,
and Don Pedro went to Seville.

Some time passed on without the arrival of the promised money, and the
prince was impatient to return to Aquitaine. Don Henry had gathered a
force in France, secretly assisted by the French king, and had made
an inroad into Aquitaine, where he obtained several successes, and was
joined by many of the disinterested nobles of that province.

"You were right," the prince said to Walter one day; "this treacherous
king, who owes his kingdom to us, intends to break his plighted word. I
know not what to do; my men are clamorous for their pay, and I am unable
to satisfy them. Don Pedro still sends fair promises, and although I
believe in my heart that he has no intention of keeping them, yet I can
hardly march against him as an enemy, for, however far from the truth it
may be, his pretext that the treasury has been emptied by his brother,
and that in the disturbed state of the kingdom no money can be obtained,
may yet be urged as valid."

Scarcely had the army encamped before Valladolid when a terrible
pestilence attacked the army. For a while all questions of pay were
forgotten, and consternation and dismay seized the troops. Neither rank
nor station was of avail, and the leaders suffered as severely as the
men. Every day immense numbers died, and so sudden were the attacks, and
so great the mortality, that the soldiers believed that Don Pedro
had poisoned the wells in order to rid himself of the necessity of
fulfilling his obligations.

The Black Prince himself was prostrated, and lay for some time between
life and death. A splendid constitution enabled him to pull through,
but he arose from his bed enfeebled and shattered, and although for
some years he lived on, he received his death-blow at Valladolid. His
personal strength never came to him again, and even his mind was dulled
and the brightness of his intellect dimmed from the effects of the
fe