"The day after the battle, when the knights charged by him to examine the dead and the prisoners came to make their report, he asked in the Gascon dialect, which he habitually spoke: '_E lo bort, es mort ó pres?_ And the Bastard, is he killed or taken?' The answer was, that he had disappeared from the field of battle, and that all trace of him was lost. '_Non ay res faït!_' exclaimed the prince; 'Nothing is done.'" The Black Prince spoke in a prophetic spirit: the sequel proved the wisdom of his words. The battle of Najera was fought on the 3d April 1367. Two years later, less eleven days, on the 23d March 1369--Edward and his gallant followers having in the interim returned to Guyenne, disgusted with the ingratitude and bad faith of the king they had replaced upon his throne--the Bastard was master of Spain, where Don Pedro's sole remaining possession was the castle of Montiel, within whose walls the fallen monarch was closely blockaded. Negotiations ensued, in which Bertrand du Guesclin shared, and in which there can be little doubt he played a treacherous part. It is to the credit of M. Mérimée's impartiality, that he does not seek to shield the French hero, but merely urges, in extenuation of his conduct, the perverted morality and strange code of knightly honour accepted in those days. By whomsoever lured, in the night-time Pedro left his stronghold, expecting to meet, outside its walls, abettors and companions of a meditated flight. Instead of such aid, he found himself a captive, and presently he stood face to face with Henry of Trastamare. The brothers bandied insults, a blow was dealt, and they closed in mortal strife. Around them a circle of chevaliers gazed with deep interest at this combat of kings. Pedro, the taller and stronger man, at first had the advantage. Then a bystander--some say du Guesclin, others, an Arragonese, Rocaberti--pulled the king by the leg as he held his brother under him, and changed the fortune of the duel. What ensued is best told in the words of Lockhart's close and admirable version of a popular Spanish ballad:-- "Now Don Henry has the upmost, Now King Pedro lies beneath; In his heart his brother's poniard Instant finds its bloody sheath. Thus with mortal gasp and quiver, While the blood in bubbles well'd, Fled the fiercest soul that ever In a Christian bosom dwell'd." FOOTNOTES: [20] _Histoire de Don Pédre I^{er}, Roi de Castille._ Par PROSPER MÉRIMÉE, de l'Académie Française. Pp. 586. Paris, 1848. [21] _Blackwood's Magazine_, No. CCCLXXX.