enough?"

"Too much, indeed, my lord Bayard, for the honour of Spain," was the
pitiful reply. Then the Good Knight gave leave that honourable burial
should be accorded to Don Alonzo, and his friends bore away the body of
their champion with sad lamentation. But we may imagine the joy and triumph
with which the noble company present and the French men-at-arms accompanied
their hero back to the castle of Monervine.

This duel and the passages-of-arms before with Don Alonzo spread the fame
of Bayard throughout all Europe; indeed, his wonderful renown as the flower
of all chivalry really dates from this time. You may imagine how bitter the
Spaniards were and how they sought for revenge.

After the battle of Cerignola, fought on April 28, 1503, Gonzalvo, the
Great Captain, entered Naples in triumph. When this disastrous news reached
France, Louis XII. hastened to send a fresh army, commanded by la
Trémouille, to reinforce the troops already in Apulia and Calabria. The
French general fell ill, and his authority passed into the hands of the
Marquis of Mantua, who found himself opposed and beaten back at every point
by the genius of Gonzalvo.

At length the two armies came to a stand on either side of the River
Garigliano, one of the broadest rivers of Southern Italy, falling into the
Gulf of Gaeta. The French had possession of the right bank of the river,
close to the rising ground, and had therefore a more favourable position
than the marshy swamp on the lower side, in which the Spanish forces
remained encamped for fifty days. It was a fearful time, in the dead of
winter, with excessive rains, and the soldiers in both camps were driven to
the last verge of endurance, while numbers sickened and died. Under these