city of antiquities"--more than compensated for the failure
at Bourges. Rarely has an enterprise of equal difficulty been more
patiently prosecuted, or been crowned with more brilliant success. The
exiled Protestants, a large and important class, had now for many months
been subjected to the greatest hardships, and were anxiously watching an
opportunity to return to their homes. At last a carpenter presented
himself, who had long revolved the matter in his mind, and had discovered
a method of introducing the Huguenots into the city which promised well.
There was a fountain, a short distance from the walls of Nismes, known to
the ancients by the same name as the city itself--Nemausus--whose copious
stream, put to good service by the inhabitants, turned a number of mills
within the municipal limits. To admit the waters a canal had been built,
which, where it pierced the fortifications, was protected by a heavy iron
grating. Through this wet channel the carpenter resolved that the
Huguenots should enter Nismes. It so happened that a friend of his dwelt
in a house which was close to the wall at this spot; with his help he
lowered himself by night from a window into the ditch. A cord, which was
slackened or drawn tight according as there was danger of detection or
apparent security, served to direct his operations. The utmost caution was
requisite, and the water-course was too contracted to permit more than a
single person to work at once. Provided only with a file, the carpenter
set himself to sever the stout iron bars. The task was neither pleasant
nor easy. Night after night he stood in the cold stream, with the mud up
to his knees, exposed to wind and rain, and working most industriously
when the roar of the elements covered and drowned the noise he made. It
was only for a few minutes at a time that he could work; for, as the place
was situated between the citadel and the "porte des Carmes," a sentry
passed it at brief intervals, and was scarcely out of hearing except when
he went to ring the bell which announced a change of guard. Fifteen
nights, chosen from the darkest of the season, were consumed in this
perilous undertaking; and each morning, when the approach of dawn
compelled him to suspend his labors, the carpenter concealed his progress
by means of wax and mud. All this time he had been prudent enough to keep
his own counsel; but when, on the fifteenth of November, his work was
completed, he called upon the Huguenot