XII. found himself deserted by most of the allies, the Pope, the King of
Spain, Henry VIII., and the Swiss having joined the "Holy League" to drive
the French out of Italy.




[Illustration: ANDREA GRITTI DOGE _of_ VENICE
_from the portrait by Titian Vecelli_.]

CHAPTER VI


While Bayard was with the garrison at Verona, in command of three or four
hundred men-at-arms who had been lent to the Emperor by the King of France,
he had some stirring adventures. It was winter time, and that year, 1509,
was long remembered for its severity. The soldiers in the town were obliged
to send for their horses' forage sometimes to a great distance, and they
were constantly losing both horses and varlets, who were waylaid by the
enemy, so that a large escort was necessary, for not a day passed without
some encounter.

Now there was a village called San Bonifacio about fifteen miles from
Verona, where a certain Venetian captain, named Giovanni Paolo Manfroni,
was stationed with a number of men, and he amused himself by chasing the
foraging parties up to the very gates of Verona. The Good Knight at last
became very angry at this bold defiance, and he resolved to put an end to
these raids by going out with the escort himself the next time that hay was
fetched from the farms round. He kept his plans as secret as possible, but
Manfroni had a spy in the city who managed to let him know what was on