little skirmish, while he rode after them at a good pace with the
men-at-arms. But he had not gone far when he saw, coming briskly out of the
town of Isola, the Venetian foot-soldiers and a troop of men-at-arms. He
made a show of being surprised, and bade the trumpeter sound to recall his
standard. When du Fay heard this, according to his orders, he began to
retire with his company, which closed up round him, and pretended to be
going straight back to Verona, but really went slowly towards the village
where their "landsknechte" were hiding. An archer had already been sent on
to tell Captain Sucker to make ready for the fight.

Meantime the men of Venice, with their combined troops, charged the small
company of Frenchmen, making such a noise that thunder would not have been
heard, for they felt quite sure that their prey could not escape them. The
French kept well together and skirmished so cleverly that they were soon
within a bow-shot from Servode, when the "landsknechte" of the Prince of
Hainault rushed forth in close ranks from their ambush, and at the word of
command from Bayard charged the Venetians, who were astounded. But they
were good fighting men and made a bold stand, although many were borne to
the ground by the terrible long spears of their enemies. Manfroni made a
splendid resistance, but he could do nothing to help his foot-soldiers,
who could not escape by flight, as they were too far from any refuge; and
he was compelled to see them cut up and destroyed before his eyes. The
Venetian captain soon saw that his only chance was to retreat or he must be
killed, if not taken prisoner, so he galloped off at full speed towards San
Bonifacio. He was followed for some distance, but the Good Knight then
caused the retreat to be sounded, and the pursuers returned, but with great
spoils of prisoners and horses.

The loss of the Venetians was very great, for none of the foot-soldiers
escaped, and there were about sixty prisoners of importance who were taken