"It is possible that the Chancellor may have erred, but you are equally guilty if you allow our Germans to be crushed!" replied Frederic. "Ride to the camp, Goswin! and bring up your men; and you, Erwin, take this troop, and charge the enemy on the flank." Whilst Rechberg, in the execution of the order, put himself at the head of the column, Barbarossa turned to the princes and nobles, and with prayers and threats endeavored to force them to take part in the combat; but it was in vain he spoke. "It has never been our duty, Sire, to defend traitors!" said the Count Palatine Conrad. "Take care, sir," replied the Emperor, menacingly; "you may have cause to repent your conduct." He spurred to the head of a small body of men-at-arms who had assembled in the mean time. "Courage, my faithful knights!" he cried, couching his lance; "think of German glory!--a German flag is in danger! Charge to its rescue!" and with levelled lances, the men-at-arms hurled themselves upon the foe. Rechberg was already in the thickest of the fight, sowing death and destruction around him, in his efforts to relieve the Chancellor; but it was in vain that he sought the Unknown, whom he was to recognize by the glove upon his helmet. The fresh troops from the camp and the Milanese were now engaged in a fierce hand-to-hand conflict. The confusion was immense; without order or preconcerted plan, each man attacked his adversary wherever he could find him. The ground trembled under the hoofs of the charging horses, swords clashed, and lances rose and fell; and the shrill blasts of the trumpets, and the cries of rage and agony, formed a fitting accompaniment to the sombre tragedy. Erwin pressed forward to where the consuls stood, unable either to advance or retreat; but before he could accomplish his object, a loud shout was heard on the left, where the Emperor was fighting. Rechberg looked around; the Emperor had disappeared, but a fierce struggle was going on, and the cry "the Emperor is down!" ran through the ranks; and then the Germans, with a wild yell, began to drive back the enemy, who were giving way on all sides; and at this moment the Emperor regained his saddle and charged forward. Erwin had finally reached the consuls, while the Milanese were breaking in great confusion. "Surrender!" he shouted, placing his sword's point on the breast of Gherardo Nigri. "I yield," replied the Italian, "on the usual terms of chivalry." The Count confided the prisoner to one of his companions. "Friend Berthold," he said, "accompany this gentleman to your tent, and remain with him until my return." The rout had now become general, and the Germans pursued the fugitives to the very gates of the city. Eighty men-at-arms and two hundred and sixty-six infantry, who had left the town to aid the Consuls, were prisoners, while heaps of dead and wounded covered the field of battle. Before taking off his armor, our hero repaired to the tent where he had placed his prisoner.