Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/307

163 WAR OF THE SUCCESSION. 163 way in all directions. The duke of Alva, by sue- chapter ceeding in turning their flank, while they were L_ thus vigorously pressed in front, completed their disorder, and soon converted their retreat into a rout. Some, attempting to cross the Douro, were drowned, and many, who endeavoured to effect an entrance into Toro, were entangled in the narrow defile of the bridge, and fell by the sword of their pursuers, or miserably perished in the river, which, bearing along their mutilated corpses, brought ti- dings of the fatal victory to Zamora. Such were the heat and fury of the pursuit, that the interven- ing night, rendered darker than usual by a driving rain storm, alone saved the scattered remains of the army from destruction. Several Portuguese companies, under favor of this obscurity, contrived to elude their foes by shouting the Castilian battle- cry. Prince John, retiring with a fragment of his broken squadrons to a neighbouring eminence, suc- ceeded, by lighting fires and sounding his trumpets, in rallying round him a number of fugitives ; and, as the position he occupied was too strong to be readi- ly forced, and the Castilian troops were too weary, and well satisfied with their victory, to attempt it, he retained possession of it till morning, when he made good his retreat into Toro. The king of Portugal, who was missing, was supposed to have perished in the battle, until, by advices received from him late on the following day, it was as- certained that he had escaped without personal in- jury, and with three or four attendants only, to the fortified castle of Castro Nuno, some leagues distant