bottom in which he could conceal himself. The
soldiers looked down the well a dozen times, but could see nothing.
Brousson was not in the house; he was not in the chimneys; he was not
in the outhouses. He _must_ be in the well! A soldier went down the
well to make a personal examination. He was let down close to the
surface of the water, and felt all about. There was nothing! Feeling
awfully cold, and wishing to be taken out, he called to his friends,
"There is nothing here, pull me up." He was pulled up accordingly, and
Brousson was again saved.

The country about Nismes being beset with spies to track the
Protestants and prevent their meetings, Brousson determined to go
westward and visit the scattered people in Rouerge, Pays de Foix, and
Bigorre, proceeding as far as Bearn, where a remnant of Huguenots
still lingered, notwithstanding the repeated dragooning to which the
district had been subjected. It was at Oberon that he fell into the
hands of a spy, who bore the same name as a Protestant friend to whom
his letter was addressed. Information was given to the authorities,
and Brousson was arrested. He made no resistance, and answered at once
to his name.

When the Judas who had betrayed him went to M. Penon, the intendant of
the province, to demand the reward set upon Brousson's head, the
Intendant replied with indignation, "Wretch! don't you blush to look
upon the man in whose blood you traffic? Begone! I cannot bear your
presence!"

Brousson was sent to Pau, where he was imprisoned in the castle of
Foix, at one time the centre of the Reformation movement in the South
of France--where Calvin had preached, where Jeanne d'Albret had lived,
and where Henry IV. had been born.

From Pau, Brousson was sent to Montpellier, escorted by dragoons. At
Toulouse the party took passage by the canal of Languedoc, which had
then been shortly open. At Somail, during the night, Brousson saw that
all the soldiers were asleep. He had but to step on shore to regain
his liberty; but he had promised to the Intendant of Bearn, who had
allowed him to go unfettered, that he would not attempt to escape. At
Agade there was a detachment of a hundred soldiers, ready to convey
the prisoner to Baville, Intendant of Languedoc. He was imprisoned in
the citadel of Montpellier, on the 30th October, 1698.

Baville, who knew much of the character of Brousson--his peacefulness,
his piety, his self-sacrifice, and his noble magnanimity--is said to