companies of
fifty men each.

But the mountains had swallowed up the fanatics, and nothing was ever
known of their fate, except that from time to time a peasant would relate
that in crossing the Cevennes he had heard at dawn or dusk, on mountain
peak or from valley depths, the sound going up to heaven of songs of
praise. It was the fanatic assassins worshipping God.

Or occasionally at night, on the tops of the lofty mountains, fires shone
forth which appeared to signal one to another, but on looking the next
night in the same direction all was dark.

So M. de Broglie, concluding that nothing could be done against enemies
who were invisible, disbanded the troops which had come to his aid, and
went back to Montpellier, leaving a company of fusiliers at Collet,
another at Ayres, one at the bridge of Montvert, one at Barre, and one at
Pompidon, and appointing Captain Poul as their chief,

This choice of such a man as chief showed that M. de Broglie was a good
judge of human nature, and was also perfectly acquainted with the
situation, for Captain Poul was the very man to take a leading part in
the coming struggle. "He was," says Pere Louvreloeil, priest of the
Christian doctrine and cure of Saint-Germain de Calberte, "an officer of
merit and reputation, born in Ville-Dubert, near Carcassonne, who had
when young served in Hungary and Germany, and distinguished himself in
Piedmont in several excursions against the Barbets, [ A name applied
first to the Alpine smugglers who lived in the valleys, later to the
insurgent peasants in the Cevennes.--Translator's Note.] notably in one
of the later ones, when, entering the tent of their chief, Barbanaga, he
cut off his head. His tall and agile figure, his warlike air, his love
of hard work, his hoarse voice, his fiery and austere character, his
carelessness in regard to dress, his mature age, his tried courage, his
taciturn habit, the length and weight of his sword, all combined to
render him formidable. Therefore no one could have been chosen more
suitable for putting down the rebels, for forcing their entrenchments,
and for putting them to flight."

Hardly had he taken up a position in the market town of Labarre, which
was to be his headquarters, than he was informed that a gathering of
fanatics had been seen on the little plain of Fondmorte, which formed a
pass between two valleys. He ordered out his Spanish steed, which he was
accustomed to ride in the Turkish manner--