Amadour remained at Barcelona as short a time as possible, for he was impatient to reach Salces, where he alone was now awaited.  When he arrived, there began between the two kings that great and cruel war which I do not purpose to describe. (12) Neither will I recount the noble deeds that were done by Amadour, for then my story would take up an entire day; but you must know that he won renown far above all his comrades.  The Duke of Najera (13) having arrived at Perpignan in command of two thousand men, requested Amadour to be his lieutenant, and so well did Amadour fulfil his duty with this band, that in every skirmish the only cry was “Najera!” (14)

12 In 1503 the French, under Marshals de Rieux and de Gie, again besieged Salces, which had a garrison of 1200 men.  The latter opposed a vigorous defence during two months, and upon the arrival of the old Duke of Alba with an army of succour the siege had to be raised.—­B.  J.

     13 Pedro Manriquez de Lara, Count of Trevigno, created Duke
     of Najera by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1501.—­B.  J.

14 The Duke’s war-cry, repeated by his followers as a rallying signal in the melee.  War-cries varied greatly.  “Montjoie St. Denis” was that of the kings of France, and “Passavant le meilleur” (the best to the front) that of the Counts of Champagne.  In other instances the war-cry consisted of a single word, “Bigorre” being that of the kings of Navarre, and “Flanders” that of the Princess of Beaujeu.  When the war-cry was merely a name, as in the case of the Duke of Najera, it belonged to the head of the family.—­D.

Now it came to pass that the King of Tunis, who for a long time had been at war with the Spaniards, heard that the kings of France and Spain were warring with each other on the frontiers of Perpignan and Narbonne, and bethought himself that he could have no better opportunity of vexing the King of Spain.  Accordingly, he sent a great number of light galleys and other vessels to plunder and destroy all such badly-guarded places as they could find on the coasts of Spain. (15)The people of Barcelona seeing a great fleet passing in front of their town, sent word of the matter to the Viceroy, who was at Salces, and he forthwith despatched the Duke of Najera to Palamos. (16) When the Moors saw that place so well guarded, they made a feint of passing on; but returning at midnight, they landed a large number of men, and the Duke of Najera, being surprised by the enemy, was taken prisoner.

15 The above two sentences, deficient in the MS. followed by M. Le Roux de Lincy, have been borrowed from MS. No. 1520 (Bib.  Nat.).  It was in 1503 that a Moorish flotilla ravaged the coast of Catalonia.—­Ed.

     16 The village of Palamos, on the shores of the
     Mediterranean, south of Cape Bagur, and within fifteen miles
     from Gerona.—­Ed.