"Make your claim good to King Philip, we shall not resist it; the ransom may be yours, but at present the body is ours," answered De Fynes boldly.
And De Montmorency lived to pay so great a ransom (10,000 ducats), that his captor was able to buy a fortress on the Rhine and a title of nobility!
But the Constable's fame as a soldier was lost for ever, and the evening of his days was spent in obscurity.
That night the three English youths, unwounded and unscathed, reported themselves to their commander, Lord Clinton. Ah, what a happy meeting was that! And though the English contingent took no leading part in the battle, yet their presence before the town prevented Coligni from succeeding in an attempted sortie from St. Quentin—they did good service.
CHAPTER XII
THE FALL OF ST. QUENTIN
A vast amount of spoil fell into the hands of the victors: among it were eighty standards and all the artillery save two pieces.
The prisoners numbered six thousand men, of whom six hundred were gentlemen of position.
Of De Montmorency's fine army of twenty-two thousand men all were slain or captured, save five thousand. Among the slain were some of the noblest of the sons of France, notably Jean de Bourbon, Count d'Enghien, a prince of the blood.
On the side of the Spaniards less than a thousand fell, among them being Count Brederode (who perished in the morass, smothered in his armour) and Counts Spiegelbourg and Waldeck.