elly disappointed when he heard M. de Villars say that he
accepted their service and expected them to obey d'Aygaliers in all
matters concerning the service of the king."

But this was not all that had to be accomplished arms were necessary for
the Protestants, and though their number was not great, there was a
difficulty in finding them weapons. The unfortunate Calvinists had been
disarmed so often that even their table-knives had been carried off, so
it was useless to search their houses for guns and sabres. D'Aygaliers
proposed that they should take the arms of the townspeople, but M. de
Villars considered that it would offend the Catholics to have their arms
taken from them and given to the Protestants. In the end, however, this
was the course that had to be adopted: M. de Paratte was ordered to give
fifty muskets and the same number of bayonets to M. d'Aygaliers, who also
received, as the reward of his long patience, from M. de Villars, before
the latter left for Nimes, the following commission:

"We, Marechal de Villars, general in the armies of the king, etc., etc.,
have given permission to M. d'Aygaliers, nobleman and Protestant of the
town of Uzes, and to fifty men chosen by him, to make war on the
Camisards.

"(Signed) "VILLARS

"(Countersigned) "MORETON

"Given at Uzes, the 4th of May 1704"

Hardly had M. de Villars set out for Nimes than d'Aygaliers met with
fresh difficulties. The bishop, who could not forget that his episcopal
palace had been turned into barracks for Huguenots, went from house to
house threatening those who had promised to countenance d'Aygaliers'
plans, and strictly forbidding the captains of the town troops to deliver
any weapons to the Protestants. Fortunately, d'Aygaliers had not
accomplished so much without having learned not to draw back when the
road grew rough, so he also on his side went about confirming the strong
and encouraging the feeble, and called on M. de Paratte to beg him to
carry out the orders of M. de Villars. De Paratte was happily an old
soldier, whose one idea was that discipline should be maintained, so that
he gave the guns and bayonets to d'Aygaliers on the spot, without a word
of objection, and thus enabled the latter to start at five o'clock next
morning with his little band.

Meantime de Baville and de Lalande had been reflecting what great
influence d'Aygaliers would gain in the province should he succeed in his
aims, and their jealousy had made t