every turn, to harass him in a hundred ways, to foil all his enterprises,
to parry all his strokes, and finally to drive him out of the country,
after a totally barren campaign, when, as he felt certain, his ill-paid
hirelings would vanish in all directions, and leave their patriot Prince
a helpless and penniless adventurer. The scheme thus sagaciously
conceived, his adversary, with all his efforts, was unable to circumvent.

The campaign lasted little more than a month. Twenty-nine times the
Prince changed his encampment, and at every remove the Duke was still
behind him, as close and seemingly as impalpable as his shadow. Thrice
they were within cannon-shot of each other; twice without a single trench
or rampart between them. The country people refused the Prince supplies,
for they trembled at the vengeance of the Governor. Alva had caused the
irons to be removed from all the mills, so that not a bushel of corn
could be ground in the whole province. The country thus afforded but
little forage for the thirty thousand soldiers of the Prince.
The troops, already discontented, were clamorous for pay and plunder.
During one mutinous demonstration, the Prince's sword was shot from his
side, and it was with difficulty that a general outbreak was suppressed.
The soldiery were maddened and tantalized by the tactics of Alva. They
found themselves constantly in the presence of an enemy, who seemed to
court a battle at one moment and to vanish like a phantom at the next
They felt the winter approaching, and became daily more dissatisfied with
the irritating hardships to which they were exposed. Upon the night of
the 5th and 6th of October the Prince had crossed the Meuse at Stochem.
Thence he had proceeded to Tongres, followed closely by the enemy's
force, who encamped in the immediate neighbourhood. From Tongres he
had moved to Saint Trond, still pursued and still baffled in the same
cautious manner. The skirmishing at the outposts was incessant, but the
main body was withdrawn as soon as there seemed a chance of its becoming