Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/228

202 to maintain their ground, they at length gave way, broke their ranks, and sought shelter in flight.

Bajazet had as yet brought into action only a portion of his forces. On perceiving the disaster which had befallen his janissaries, he advanced for their support a large body of cavalry, in whose rear the flying infantry found cover from the fierce pursuit of the foe. The ardour of the French appeared to rise with each successive obstacle. Heedless of the vastly superior numbers opposed to them, and without waiting for support from the remainder of the army, they dashed at their new antagonists with so vigorous a charge that they carried all before them. This second barrier was swept away with the same facility as the first.

Up to this point all had gone well. The main body of the army had apparently only to remain quiet spectators, whilst the chivalry of France were overcoming and dispersing in helpless confusion ten times their number of the choicest forces under the banner of Bajazet. Had de Nevers halted there, and rallying his scattered forces permitted the rest of the army to advance and follow up the victory he had so gloriously achieved, that day must have witnessed the complete overthrow of Bajazet’s power. Fate, however, had decreed it otherwise. Although his ruin was indeed close at hand, it was not by Christian might that his destruction was to be accomplished. He was, on the contrary, permitted to enjoy yet one more brief hour of triumph ere his own day of retribution dawned.

Hurried away by the ardour of pursuit, de Nevers did not for one moment stop to consider the exhausted state to which his troops had been reduced by their previous efforts. Pressing forward, he permitted them to break their ranks, and to urge their jaded steeds after the flying foe in every direction. It was whilst they were in this disordered condition that, on crowning the brow of a hill, they were surprised to see on its far side a dense forest of spears, which had hitherto been concealed from their view. This was Bajazet’s grand corps of reserve, with which he still trusted to redeem the fortunes of the day. Placing himself at its head, he prepared once more to renew the combat against his redoubtable antagonists, who had thrice overcome all that had been opposed to them. Those very