Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/170

144 144 ITALIAN WARS. PART II. The French routed. had easily carried the French redoubt on his side of the Garigliano ; but it was not without difficulty and delay, that he recovered the scattered boats which the French had set adrift down the stream, and finally succeeded in reestablishing his commu- nications with the opposite bank. Having accom- plished this, he rapidly advanced by a more direct road, to the east of that lately traversed by Gon- salvo along the sea-side, in pursuit of the French. The latter beheld with dismay the arrival of this fresh body of troops, who seemed to have dropped from the clouds on the field of battle. They scarcely waited for the shock before they broke, and gave way in all directions. The disabled car- riages of the artillery, which clogged up the avenues in the rear, increased the confusion among the fugi- tives, and the foot were trampled down without mercy under the heels of their own cavalry, in the eagerness of the latter to extricate themselves from their perilous situation. The Spanish light horse followed up their advantage with the alacrity of vengeance long delayed, inflicting bloody retribu- tion for all they had so long suffered in the marshes of Sessa. At no great distance from the bridge the road takes two directions, the one towards Itri, the other to Gaeta. The bewildered fugitives here separat- ed; by far the greater part keeping the latter route. Gonsalvo sent forward a body of horse under Na- varro and Pedro de la Paz, by a short cut across the country, to intercept their flight. A large number fell into his hands in consequence of this I