psalm. At
a distance of ten paces they fired, and then charged the enemy at the
point of the bayonet. At this moment the sixty men in ambush to the
right opened fire, while the thirty horsemen to the left, uttering
loud shouts, charged at a gallop. Hearing this noise, and seeing
death approach them in three different directions, the royals believed
themselves surrounded, and did not attempt to make a stand; the men,
throwing away their weapons, took to their heels, the officers alone and
a few dragoons whom they had succeeded in rallying making a desperate
resistance.

Cavalier was riding over the field of battle, sabring all the fugitives
whom he met, when he caught sight of a group, composed of ten naval
officers; standing close together and back to back, spontoon in hand,
facing the Camisards, who surrounded them. He spurred up to them,
passing through the ranks of his soldiers, and not pausing till he was
within fifteen paces of them, although they raised their weapons to
fire. Then making a sign with his hand that he wished to speak to them,
he said, "Gentlemen, surrender. I shall give quarter, and in return for
the ten lives I now spare you, will ask that my father, who is in prison
at Nimes, be released."

For sole answer, one of the officers fired and wounded the young chief's
horse in the head. Cavalier drew a pistol from his belt, took aim at
the officer and killed him, then turning again to the others, he asked,
"Gentlemen, are you as obstinate as your comrade, or do you accept my
offer?" A second shot was the reply, and a bullet grazed his shoulder.
Seeing that no other answer was to be hoped for, Cavalier turned to his
soldiers. "Do your duty," said he, and withdrew, to avoid seeing the
massacre. The nine officers were shot.

M. de La Jonquiere, who had received a slight wound in the cheek,
abandoned his horse in order to climb over a wall. On the other side he
made a dragoon dismount and give him his horse, on which he crossed the
river Gardon, leaving behind him on the battlefield twenty-five officers
and six hundred soldiers killed. This defeat was doubly disastrous to
the royal cause, depriving it of the flower of its officers, almost all
of those who fell belonging to the noblest families of France, and also
because the Camisards gained what they so badly needed, muskets, swords,
and bayonets in great quantities, as well as eighty horses, these latter
enabling Cavalier to complete the organisation