t M. de Broglie was a
good judge of human nature, and was also perfectly acquainted with the
situation, for Captain Poul was the very man to take a leading part
in the coming struggle. "He was," says Pere Louvreloeil, priest of the
Christian doctrine and cure of Saint-Germain de Calberte, "an officer
of merit and reputation, born in Ville-Dubert, near Carcassonne, who had
when young served in Hungary and Germany, and distinguished himself in
Piedmont in several excursions against the Barbets, [ A name applied
first to the Alpine smugglers who lived in the valleys, later to the
insurgent peasants in the Cevennes.--Translator's Note.] notably in one
of the later ones, when, entering the tent of their chief, Barbanaga, he
cut off his head. His tall and agile figure, his warlike air, his love
of hard work, his hoarse voice, his fiery and austere character, his
carelessness in regard to dress, his mature age, his tried courage,
his taciturn habit, the length and weight of his sword, all combined
to render him formidable. Therefore no one could have been chosen more
suitable for putting down the rebels, for forcing their entrenchments,
and for putting them to flight."

Hardly had he taken up a position in the market town of Labarre, which
was to be his headquarters, than he was informed that a gathering of
fanatics had been seen on the little plain of Fondmorte, which formed a
pass between two valleys. He ordered out his Spanish steed, which he
was accustomed to ride in the Turkish manner--that is, with very short
stirrups, so that he could throw himself forward to the horse's ears, or
backward to the tail, according as he wished to give or avoid a mortal
blow. Taking with him eighteen men of his own company and twenty-five
from the town, he at once set off for the place indicated, not
considering any larger number necessary to put to rout a band of
peasants, however numerous.

The information turned out to be correct: a hundred Reformers led by
Esprit Seguier had encamped in the plain of Fondmorte, and about eleven
o'clock in the morning one of their sentinels in the defile gave the
alarm by firing off his gun and running back to the camp, shouting, "To
arms!" But Captain Poul, with his usual impetuosity, did not give the
insurgents time to form, but threw himself upon them to the beat of
the drum, not in the least deterred by their first volley. As he
had expected, the band consisted of undisciplined peasants, who once
sc