And in truth Farnese found himself in very narrow quarters.  There was no hay for his horses, no bread for his men.  A penny loaf was sold for two shillings.  A jug of water was worth a crown.  As for meat or wine, they were hardly to be dreamed of.  His men were becoming furious at their position.  They had enlisted to fight, not to starve, and they murmured that it was better for an army to fall with weapons in its hands than to drop to pieces hourly with the enemy looking on and enjoying their agony.

It was obvious to Farnese that there were but two ways out of his dilemma.  He might throw himself upon Henry—­strongly entrenched as he was, and with much superior forces to his own, upon ground deliberately chosen for himself—­defeat him utterly, and march over him back to the Netherlands.  This would be an agreeable result; but the undertaking seemed difficult, to say the least.  Or he might throw his army across the Seine and make his escape through the isle of France and Southern Picardy back to the so-called obedient provinces.  But it seemed, hopeless without bridges or pontoons to attempt the passage of the Seine.

There was; however, no time left, for hesitation.  Secretly he took his resolution and communicated it in strict confidence to Mayenne, to Ranuccio, and to one or two other chiefs.  He came to Caudebec, and there, close to the margin of the river, he threw up a redoubt.  On the opposite bank, he constructed another.  On both he planted artillery, placing a force of eight hundred Netherlanders under Count Bossu in the one, and an equal number of the same nation, Walloons chiefly, under Barlotte in the other.  He collected all the vessels, flatboats,—­ wherries,—­and rafts that could be found or put together at Rouen, and then under cover of his forts he transported all the Flemish infantry, and the Spanish, French, and Italian cavalry, during the night of 22nd May to the 22 May, opposite bank of the Seine.  Next morning he sent up all the artillery together with the Flemish cavalry to Rouen, where, making what use he could by temporary contrivances of the broken arches of the broken bridge, in order to shorten the distance from shore to shore, he managed to convey his whole army with all its trains across the river.

A force was left behind, up to the last moment, to engage in the customary skirmishes, and to display themselves as largely as possible for the purpose of imposing upon the enemy.  The young Prince of Parma had command of this rearguard.  The device was perfectly successful.  The news of the movement was not brought to the ears of Henry until after it had been accomplished.  When the king reached the shore of the Seine, he saw to his infinite chagrin and indignation that the last stragglers of the army, including the garrison of the fort on the right bank, were just ferrying themselves across under command of Ranuccio.

Furious with disappointment, he brought some pieces of artillery to bear upon the triumphant fugitives.  Not a shot told, and the Leaguers had the satisfaction of making a bonfire in the king’s face of the boats which had brought them over.  Then, taking up their line of march rapidly inland, they placed themselves completely out of the reach of the Huguenot guns.