at least no concealment.  The Crescent-wearing Zealanders had been taken at their word, and the whole nation of Netherlanders were formally banned as unbelievers.  The forces of Don John were mustered at Marche in Luxemburg; those of the states in a plain within a few miles of Namur.  Both armies were nearly equal in number, amounting to nearly twenty thousand each, including a force of two thousand cavalry on each side.  It had been the original intention of the patriots to attack Don John in Namur.  Having learned, however, that he purposed marching forth himself to offer battle, they decided to fall back upon Gemblours, which was nine miles distant from that city.  On the last day of January, they accordingly broke up their camp at Saint Martius, before dawn, and marched towards Gemblours.  The chief commander was De Goignies, an old soldier of Charles the Fifth, who had also fought at Saint Quintin.  The states’ army was disposed in three divisions.  The van consisted of the infantry regiments of De Heze and Montigny, flanked by a protective body of light horse.  The centre, composed of the Walloon and German regiments, with a few companies of French, and thirteen companies of Scotch and English under Colonel Balfour, was commanded by two most distinguished officers, Bossu and Champagny.  The rear, which, of course, was the post of responsibility and honor, comprised all the heavy cavalry, and was commanded by Philip Egmont and Lumey de la Marck.  The Marquis Havre and the General-in-chief, Goignies, rode to and fro, as the army proceeded, each attended by his staff.  The troops of Don John broke up from before Namur with the earliest dawn, and marched in pursuit of the retiring foe.  In front was nearly the whole of the cavalry-carabineers, lancers, and heavy dragoons.  The centre, arranged in two squares, consisted chiefly of Spanish infantry, with a lesser number of Germans.  In the rear came the Walloons, marching also in a square, and protecting the baggage and ammunition.  Charles Mansfeld had been left behind with a reserved force, stationed on the Meuse; Ottavio Gonzaga commanded in front, Ernest Mansfeld brought up the rear; while in the centre rode Don John himself, attended by the Prince of Parma.  Over his head streamed the crucifix-emblazoned banner, with its memorable inscription—­In hoc signo vici Turcos, in hoc Haereticos vincam.

Small detachments of cavalry had been sent forward; under Olivera and Acosta, to scour the roads and forests, and to disturb all ambuscades which might have been prepared.  From some stragglers captured by these officers, the plans of the retreating generals were learned.  The winter’s day was not far advanced, when the rearward columns of the states’ army were descried in the distance.  Don John, making a selection of some six hundred cavalry, all picked men, with a thousand infantry, divided the whole into two bodies, which he placed under command of Gonzaga and the famous old Christopher Mondragon.  These