es so as to enclose the entire body of
heretics, with the object of cutting them off to a man. The Vaudois,
however, defended themselves resolutely, though armed only with pikes,
swords, and bows and arrows, and everywhere beat back the assailants.
The severest struggle occurred at Rochemalan, which the crusaders
attacked with great courage. But the Vaudois had the advantage of the
higher ground, and, encouraged by the cries and prayers of the women,
children, and old men whom they were defending, they impetuously
rushed forward and drove the Papal troops downhill in disorder,
pursuing them into the very plain.

The next day the Papalini renewed the attack, ascending by the bottom
of the valley, instead of by the plateau on which they had been
defeated. But one of those dense mists, so common in the Alps, having
settled down upon the valley, the troops became confused, broken up,
and entangled in difficult paths; and in this state, marching
apprehensively, they were fallen upon by the Vaudois and again
completely defeated. Many of the soldiers slid over the rocks and were
drowned in the torrent,--the chasm into which the captain of the
detachment (Saquet de Planghere) fell, being still known as _Toumpi de
Saquet_, or Saquet's Hole.

The resistance of the mountaineers at other points, in the valleys of
Pragela and St. Martin, having been almost equally successful, Catanee
withdrew the Papal army in disgust, and marched it back into France,
to wreak his vengeance on the defenceless Vaudois of the Val Louise,
in the manner described in a preceding chapter.

Less than a century later, a like attempt was made to force the
entrance to the valley of Angrogna, by an army of Italians and
Spaniards, under the command of the Count de la Trinite. A
proclamation had been published, and put up in the villages of
Angrogna, to the effect that all would be destroyed by fire and sword
who did not forthwith return to the Church of Rome. And as the
peasantry did not return, on the 2nd November, 1560, the Count
advanced at the head of his army to extirpate the heretics. The
Vaudois were provided with the rudest sort of weapons; many of them
had only slings and cross-bows. But they felt strong in the goodness
of their cause, and prepared to defend themselves to the death.

As the Count's army advanced, the Vaudois retired until they reached
the high ground near Rochemalan, where they took their stand. The
enemy followed, and halted in t