if you see any
attempt at escape, shoot them at once.

"Quick, my lads; there may be more of this work going on, ahead."

He then gave similar instructions, for the carriage of the Huguenot
goods, as he had at the preceding places.

At the next village they were in time to prevent the work of
massacre from commencing. A party of horsemen and some priests,
followed by a mob, were just entering it as they rode up. The
horsemen were overthrown by their onset, the mob sent flying back
towards the town, the Huguenots charging almost up to the gates.
The horsemen and priests were made prisoners, as before; and when
the rest of the band returned from their pursuit, they again rode
on. They had now made half a circuit of Niort, and presently saw
Francois and his party, galloping towards them.

"I had begun to be afraid that something had happened," Francois
said, as he rode up. "I waited a quarter of an hour and then rode
on, as we agreed.

"Well, I see you have got a good batch of prisoners."

"We have lost no time," Philip said. "We have been through five
villages. At one we were just in time, for they had begun the work
of massacre, before we got up. At another, we met them as they
arrived. But at the other three, although the villagers were
prepared for the work, the townsmen had not arrived."

"There were only three villages on my side," Francois said. "At the
first, they had nearly finished their work before we arrived. That
was where we saw the smoke rising. But we paid them for it
handsomely, for we must have cut down more than a hundred of the
scoundrels. At one of the others, the Huguenots were defending
themselves well; and there, too, we gave the townspeople a lesson.
At the third, all was quiet. We have taken six or eight burghers,
as many gentlemen, and ten priests."

Philip told him the orders he had given, for the Catholics to place
their horses and carts at the disposal of their Huguenot fellow
villagers.

"I wish I had thought of it," Francois said. "But it is not too
late. I will ride back with my party, and see all our friends well
on their way from the villages. I left four men at each, to keep
the Catholics from interfering.

"If you will go back the way you came, we will meet again on the
main road, on the other side of the town. I don't think there is
any fear of their making a sortie. Our strength is sure to be
greatly exaggerated; and the fugitives, pouring in from each side
of the town