CHEVALIER BAYARD 151 armlets, made of gold and silver thread ; the other, a purse of crimson satia And this was all the spoil that Bayard carried from the inestimable wealth of Brescia the little keepsakes of two girls whom he had saved. The scenes of Bayard's life at which we have been glancing have been chiefly those of his great feats of arms. And so it must be still ; for it is these of which the details have survived in history. And yet it was such incidents as these at Brescia which made the fame of Bayard what it was and what it is. To his foes, he was the flower of chivalry ; but to his friends, he' was, besides, the most adored of men. It is said that in his native province of Dauphiny, at his death, more than a hundred ancient soldiers owed to him the roof that covered their old age ; that more than a hundred orphan girls had received their marriage portions from his bounty. But of such acts the vast majority are unrecorded ; for these are not the deeds which shine in the world's eye. Gaston de Foix was now before Ravenna. Bayard rode thither with all speed ; he was just in time. Two days after his arrival came the battle. Weak though he still was from his long illness, Bayard on that day was seen, as ever, "shining above his fellow-men." He turned the tide of victory; he tore two standards from the foe with his own hand ; and he was first in the pursuit. Two months after, Bayard was at Pavia. The little troop with which he was then serving had there sought refuge under Louis d'Ars. The armies of the Swiss burst in upon them. Bayard, with a handful of soldiers in the market- place, held, for two hours, their whole force at bay, while his companions were re- treating from the town across a bridge of boats. As he himself was crossing, last of all, a shot struck him in the shoulder, and stripped it to the bone. No surgeon was at hand. The wound, roughly stanched with moss, brought on a fever, and for some time he lay in danger of his life. And now Bayard was to follow a new master. Louis XII. died ; Francis I. received the crown ; and Bayard, with the young king, marched to Milan, which the Swiss had seized and held. On Thursday, September 13, 1515, King Francis pitched his camp at Marig- nano, before the city of the spires. No danger of attack was apprehended ; the king sat calmly down to supper in his tent ; when all at once the Swiss, aroused to madness by the fiery eloquence of Cardinal de Sion, broke like a tempest from the city, and fell upon the camp. The French, by the red light of sunset, flew to arms, and fought with fury till night fell. Both armies sat all night on horse- back, waiting for the dawn ; and with the first streaks of morning, flew again to battle. It was noon before the bitter contest ended, and the Swiss, still fighting every inch of ground, drew slowly back toward the city. It had been, indeed, as Trevulzio called it, a Battle of the Giants. And the greatest of the giants had been Bayard and the king. That evening Francis held, before his tent, the ceremony of creating knights of valor. But before the ceremony began, a proclamation by the heralds startled and delighted all the camp. Francis had determined to receive the rank in his own person. Bayard was to knight the king !
