eady." Conde had the bearers arrested, understood
the warning, and communicated it to Coligny, who went and joined him at
Noyers, and they decided, both of them, upon quitting Burgundy without
delay, to go and seek over the Loire at La Rochelle, which they knew to
be devoted to their cause, a sure asylum and a place suitable for their
purposes as a centre of warlike operations. They set out together on the
24th of August, 1568. Conde took with him his wife and his four
children, two of tender age. Coligny followed him in deep mourning; he
had just lost his wife, Charlotte de Laval, that worthy mate of his, who,
six years previously, in a grievous crisis for his soul as well as his
cause, had given him such energetic counsels: she had left him one young
daughter and three little children, the two youngest still in the nurse's
arms. His sister-in-law, Anne do Salm, wife of his brother D'Andelot,
was also there with a child of two years, whilst her husband was scouring
Anjou and Brittany to rally the friends of his cause and his house. A
hundred and fifty men, soldiers and faithful servants, escorted these
three noble and pious families, who were leaving their castles to go and
seek liberties and perils in a new war. When they arrived at the bank of
the Loire, they found all points in the neighborhood guarded; the river
was low; and a boatman pointed out to them, near Sancerre, a possible
ford. Conde went over first, with one of his children in his arms.

[Illustration: Conde at the Ford---328]

They all went over singing the psalm, _When Israel went out of Egypt,_
and on the 16th of September, 1568, Conde entered La Rochelle. "I fled
as far as I could," he wrote the next day, "but when I got here I found
the sea; and, inasmuch as I don't know how to swim, I was constrained to
turn my head round and gain the land, not with feet, but with hands." He
assembled the burgesses of La Rochelle, and laid before them the pitiable
condition of the kingdom, the wicked designs of people who were their
enemies as well as his own: he called upon them to come and help; he
promised to be aidful to them in all their affairs, and, "as a pledge of
my good faith," said he, "I will leave you my wife and children, the
dearest and most precious jewels I have in this world." The mayor of La
Rochelle, La Haise, responded by offering him "lives and property in the
name of all the citizens," who confirmed this offer with an outburst of
po