successive assaults of the enemy, led on by Bayard, La Palice, and the
flower of their chivalry. He had prepared to sustain a third, resolved to
bury himself under the ruins of the town rather than surrender. But
Gonsalvo, unable to relieve it, commanded him to make the best terms he
could, saying, "the place was of far less value, than the lives of the
brave men who defended it." Navarro found no difficulty in obtaining an
honorable capitulation; and the little garrison, dwindled to one-third of
its original number, marched out through the enemy's camp, with colors
flying and music playing, as if in derision of the powerful force it had
so nobly kept at bay. [17]

After the capture of Canosa, D'Aubigny, whose misunderstanding with
Nemours still continued, was despatched with a small force into the south,
to overrun the two Calabrias. The viceroy, in the mean while, having
fruitlessly attempted the reduction of several strong places held by the
Spaniards in the neighborhood of Barleta, endeavored to straiten the
garrison there by desolating the surrounding country, and sweeping off the
flocks and herds which grazed in its fertile pastures. The Spaniards,
however, did not remain idle within their defences, but, sallying out in
small detachments, occasionally retrieved the spoil from the hands of the
enemy, or annoyed him with desultory attacks, ambuscades, and other
irregular movements of _guerrilla_ warfare, in which the French were
comparatively unpractised. [18]

The war now began to assume many of the romantic features of that of
Granada. The knights on both sides, not content with the usual military
rencontres, defied one another to jousts and tourneys, eager to establish
their prowess in the noble exercises of chivalry. One of the most
remarkable of these meetings took place between eleven Spanish and as many
French knights, in consequence of some disparaging remarks of the latter