The young King at once set about carrying out the desire of his heart--the conquest of Milan. Charles de Bourbon was made Constable of France, and a great army was collected at Grenoble. But secret news was received that the Swiss were guarding on the other side the only passes which were then thought possible for the crossing of armies. One was the Mont Cenis, where the descent is made by Susa, and the other was by the Mont Genèvre. Bourbon, however, heard of a new way by the Col d'Argentière, and meantime sent several French generals and the Chevalier Bayard to cross the mountains by the Col de Cabre and make a sudden raid upon Prospero Colonna, who with a band of Italian horsemen was awaiting the descent of the French army into Piedmont. The gallant little company rode across the rocky Col, where cavalry had never passed before, descended by Droniez into the plain of Piedmont, crossed the Po at a ford, where they had to swim their horses, inquired at the Castle of Carmagnola and found that Prospero Colonna and his company had left barely a quarter of an hour before. The captains considered what they should do: some were for advancing, others hesitated, for if Colonna had any suspicion of their plan he would call the Swiss to his help, for there was a large force in the neighbourhood. It was Bayard who settled the question by saying: "Since we have come thus far, my advice is that we continue the pursuit, and if we come across them in the plain, it will be a pity if some of them do not fall into our hands." All cried that he was quite right, and that they must start as soon as possible, but first it would be well if some one were sent on in advance, in disguise, to find out the exact position of the enemy. This duty was given to the lord of Moretto, who carried out the inquiry very quickly, bringing back word that Colonna and his escort were preparing to dine at Villafranca in full security. They next settled the order of their match: Humbercourt was to go in front with one hundred archers; a bow-shot behind him Bayard would follow with one hundred men-at-arms, and then Chabannes de la Palisse and d'Aubigny would bring up the rest of their men. Prospero Colonna had good spies, and he heard from them as he was going to Mass at Villafranca that the French were in the fields in great numbers. He replied that he was quite sure it could only be Bayard and his company, unless the others were able to fly over the mountains. As he was returning from Mass, other spies came up to him with the news: "My lord, I have seen close by more than a thousand French horsemen, and they are coming to find you here." He was a little taken aback, and turned to one of his gentlemen, to whom he said: "Take twenty horsemen and go along the road to Carmagnola for two or three miles, and see if there is anything to alarm us."