and we have once more hoisted the white flag, and there has not
been a single dispute to mar the tranquillity of the day; one party has
triumphed without violence, and the other has submitted with resignation.
But I have just learned that a band of vagabonds, numbering about three
hundred, have assembled on the bridge over the Durance, and are preparing
to raid our little town to-night, intending by pillage or extortion to
get at what we possess. I have a few guns left which I am about to
distribute, and each man will watch over the safety of all.'

"Although he had not enough arms to go round, he offered to supply us,
but as I had my double-barrelled pistols I did not deprive him of his
weapons. I made the ladies go to bed, and, sitting at their door, tried
to sleep as well as I could, a pistol in each hand. But at every instant
the noise of a false alarm sounded through the town, and when day dawned
my only consolation was that no one else in Orgon had slept any better
than I.

"The next day we continued our journey to Tarascon, where new excitements
awaited us. As we got near the town we heard the tocsin clanging and
drums beating the generale. We were getting so accustomed to the uproar
that we were not very much astonished. However, when we got in we asked
what was going on, and we were told that twelve thousand troops from
Nimes had marched on Beaucaire and laid it waste with fire and sword. I
insinuated that twelve thousand men was rather a large number for one
town to furnish, but was told that that included troops from the
Gardonninque and the Cevennes. Nimes still clung to the tricolour, but
Beaucaire had hoisted the white flag, and it was for the purpose of
pulling it down and scattering the Royalists who were assembling in
numbers at Beaucaire that Nimes had sent forth her troops on this
expedition. Seeing that Tarascon and Beaucaire are only separated by the
Rhone, it struck me as peculiar that such quiet should prevail on one
bank, while such fierce conflict was raging on the other. I did not
doubt that something had happened, but not an event of such gravity as
was reported. We therefore decided to push on to Beaucaire, and when we
got there we found the town in the most perfect order. The expedition of
twelve thousand men was reduced to one of two hundred, which had been
easily repulsed, with the result that of the assailants one had been
wounded and one made prisoner. Proud of this success, t