y seventeen years old when this absolute command was conferred
upon him. How skilfully he used the scant means at his disposal we shall
see hereafter.

On one occasion Cavalier attacked a party of forty men who were marching
through the country to reinforce a distant post, and killed most of
them. While searching the dead bodies, he found in the pocket of the
commanding officer an order signed by Count Broglio, the king's
lieutenant, directing all military officers and town authorities to
lodge and feed the party on their march. No sooner had the boy soldier
read this paper than he resolved to turn it to his own advantage in a
daring and dangerous way.

The castle of Servas, near Alais, had long been a source of trouble to
him. It was a strong place, built upon a steep hill, and was so
difficult of approach that it would have been madness to try to take it
by force. This castle stood right in the line of Cavalier's
communications with his friends, near a road which he was frequently
obliged to pass, and its presence there was a source of annoyance and
danger to him. Moreover, its garrison of about forty men were constantly
plundering and murdering Cavalier's friends in the country round about,
and giving timely notice to his enemies of his own military movements.

When he found the order referred to, he resolved to pretend that he was
Count Broglio's nephew, the dead commander of the detachment which he
had just destroyed. Dressing himself in that officer's clothes, he
ordered his men to put on the clothing of the other dead royalists. Then
he took six of his best men, with their own Camisard uniforms on, and
bound them with ropes, to represent prisoners. One of them had been
wounded in the arm, and his bloody sleeve helped the stratagem. Putting
these six men at the head of his troop, with a guard of their disguised
comrades over them, he marched towards the Castle of Servas. There he
declared himself to be Count Broglio's nephew, and said that he had met
a company of the Barbets, or Camisards, and had defeated them, taking
six prisoners; that he was afraid to keep these prisoners in the village
overnight lest their friends should rescue them; and that he wished to
lodge them in the castle for safety. When the governor of the castle
heard this story, and saw the order of Count Broglio, he was completely
imposed upon. He ordered the prisoners to be brought into the castle,
and invited Cavalier to be his guest there fo