self face to face with the fourth
detachment, which had come up from Pramol. With the quick instinct of
military genius, Javanel threw himself upon it before the beaten
Rocheplate detachment were able to rally and assail him in flank; and
he succeeded in cutting the Pramol force in two and passing through
it, rushing up to the summit of the hill, on which he posted himself.
And there he stood at bay.

This hill is precipitous on one side, but of comparatively easy ascent
on the side up which the little band of heroes had ascended. At the
foot of the slope the four detachments, three thousand against three
hundred, drew up and attacked him; but firing from a distance, their
aim was not very deadly. For five hours Javanel resisted them as he
best could, and then, seeing signs of impatience and hesitation in the
enemy's ranks, he called out to his men, "Forward, my friends!" and
they rushed downhill like an avalanche. The three thousand men
recoiled, broke, and fled before the three hundred; and Javanel
returned victorious to his entrenchments before Angrogna.

Yet, again, some eight years later, in 1663, was this neighbourhood
the scene of another contest, and again was Javanel the hero. On this
occasion, the Marquis de Fleury led the troops of the Duke of Savoy,
whose object, as before, was to advance up the valley, and assail the
Vaudois stronghold of Pra du Tour; and again the peasantry resisted
them successfully, and drove them back into the plains. Javanel then
went to rejoin a party of the men whom he had posted at the "Gates of
Angrogna" to defend the pass up the valley; and again he fell upon the
enemy engaged in attempting to force a passage there, and defeated
them with heavy loss.

Such are among the exciting events which have occurred in this one
locality in connection with the Vaudois struggle for country and
liberty.

Let us now proceed up the valley of Angrogna, towards the famous
stronghold of the Pra du Tour, the object of those repeated attacks of
the enemy in the neighbourhood of Rochemalan. As we advance, the
mountains gradually close in upon the valley, leaving a comparatively
small width of pasture land by the river-side. At the hamlet of Serre
the carriage road ends; and from thence the valley grows narrower, the
mountains which enclose it become more rugged and abrupt, until there
is room enough only for a footpath along a rocky ledge, and the
torrent running in its deep bed alongside. This co