enemy. Of that proud army which had held Brescia with bold defiance, such
as were not slain were taken prisoners, and among these was the Doge of
Venice himself. Then followed an awful time of pillage and every form of
cruelty and disorder, as was ever the way in those days when a city was
taken by storm. The spoils taken were valued at three millions of crowns,
and this in the end proved the ruin of the French power in Italy, for so
many of the soldiers, demoralised by plunder, deserted with their
ill-gotten gains and went home.

Meantime the wounded Bayard was borne into the city by his two faithful
archers and taken to a quiet street from whence the tide of battle had
passed on. Here they knocked at the door of a fine house whose master had
fled to a monastery, leaving his wife in charge. The good lady opened it at
once to receive the wounded soldier, and Bayard, turning to his men, bade
them guard the house against all comers, being assured that when they heard
his name none would attempt to enter. "And rest assured that what you lose
in the matter of spoil I will make good to you," he added. The lady of the
house led the way to her guest-chamber, whither the Good Knight was
carried, and she threw herself on her knees before him, saying: "Noble
lord, I present to you this house and all that is in it, for it is yours by
right of war, but I pray you to spare my honour and my life and that of my
two young daughters...." She had hidden away the poor girls in an attic
under the hay, but Bayard soon set her mind at rest, and gave her his
knightly word that her house would be as safe as a sanctuary. Then he asked
if she knew of a surgeon, and she went to fetch her own doctor, under the
escort of one of the archers. When he arrived he dressed the wound, which
was very deep and jagged, but he assured his patient that he was in no
danger of death, and would probably be on horseback again in less than a
month.