rst witnessed the murder of all her family, was at
last stabbed to the heart, though the butchers might have reflected that
it was hardly worth while thus to anticipate the arrival of Death, who
according to the laws of nature must have been already at hand.

The massacre finished, the fanatics spread over the castle, supplying
themselves with arms and under-linen, being badly in need of the latter;
for when they left their homes they had expected soon to return, and
had taken nothing with them. They also carried off the copper kitchen
utensils, intending to turn them into bullets. Finally, they seized on
a sum of 5000 francs, the marriage-portion of M. de Laveze's sister,
who was just about to be married, and thus laid the foundation of a war
fund.

The news of these two bloody events soon reached not only Nimes but all
the countryside, and roused the authorities to action. M. le Comte de
Broglie crossed the Upper Cevennes, and marched down to the bridge
of Montvert, followed by several companies of fusiliers. From another
direction M. le Comte de Peyre brought thirty-two cavalry and three
hundred and fifty infantry, having enlisted them at Marvejols, La
Canourgue, Chiac, and Serverette. M. de St. Paul, Abbe Duchayla's
brother, and the Marquis Duchayla, his nephew, brought eighty horsemen
from the family estates. The Count of Morangiez rode in from St. Auban
and Malzieu with two companies of cavalry, and the town of Mende by
order of its bishop despatched its nobles at the head of three companies
of fifty men each.

But the mountains had swallowed up the fanatics, and nothing was ever
known of their fate, except that from time to time a peasant would
relate that in crossing the Cevennes he had heard at dawn or dusk, on
mountain peak or from valley depths, the sound going up to heaven of
songs of praise. It was the fanatic assassins worshipping God.

Or occasionally at night, on the tops of the lofty mountains, fires
shone forth which appeared to signal one to another, but on looking the
next night in the same direction all was dark.

So M. de Broglie, concluding that nothing could be done against enemies
who were invisible, disbanded the troops which had come to his aid,
and went back to Montpellier, leaving a company of fusiliers at Collet,
another at Ayres, one at the bridge of Montvert, one at Barre, and one
at Pompidon, and appointing Captain Poul as their chief.

This choice of such a man as chief showed tha