importance to its early
occupation. "Spare no labour nor pains," he said, in the memorandum of
directions which he drew up, "in fortifying this post, which will be
your most secure fortress. Do not quit it unless in the utmost
extremity.... You will, of course, be told that you cannot hold it
always, and that rather than not succeed in their object, all France
and Italy will gather together against you.... But were it the whole
world, and only yourselves against all, fear ye the Almighty alone,
who is your protection."

On the arrival of the Vaudois at the Balsille, they discerned a small
body of troops advancing towards them by the Col du Pis, higher up the
valley. They proved to be Piedmontese, forty-six in number, sent to
occupy the pass. They were surrounded, disarmed, and put to death, and
their arms were hid away amongst the rocks. No quarter was given on
either side during this war; the Vaudois had no prisons in which to
place their captives; and they themselves, when taken, were treated
not as soldiers, but as bandits, being instantly hung on the nearest
trees. The Vaudois did not, however, yet take up their permanent
position at the Balsille, being desirous of rousing the valleys
towards the south. The day following, accordingly, they marched to
Pralis, in the valley of the Germanasca, when, for the first time
since their exile, they celebrated Divine worship in one of the
temples of their ancestors.

They were now on their way towards the valley of the Pelice, to reach
which it was necessary that they should pass over the Col Julian. An
army of three thousand Piedmontese barred their way, but nothing
daunted by the great disparity of force, the Vaudois, divided into
three bodies, as at Salabertrans, mounted to the assault. As they
advanced, the Piedmontese cried, "Come on, ye devil's Barbets, there
are more than three thousand of us, and we occupy all the posts!" In
less than half an hour the whole of the posts were carried, the pass
was cleared, and the Piedmontese fled down the further side of the
mountain, leaving all their stores behind them. On the following day
the Vaudois reached Bobi, drove out the new settlers, and resumed
possession of the lands of the commune. Thus, after the lapse of only
fourteen days, this little band of heroes had marched from the shores
of the Lake of Geneva, by difficult mountain-passes, through bands of
hostile troops, which they had defeated in two severe fights, and at
l