sin
was sounded, and in a few hours several hundred men had assembled near
the Pont du Gard, ready to march upon Nimes and punish the wretches who
had slain the innocent and defenceless. By unanimous consent the Marquis
de Chamondrin was made one of the leaders of this hastily improvised
army. He accepted the command with a few eloquent words, urging his men
to do their duty, and the army took up its line of march. Some gypsies,
who chanced to be near the Pont du Gard at the time, brought up the
rear, hoping that the fortunes of war would gain them an entrance into
the city of Nimes that they might pillage and steal without restraint.

This manifestation of wrath on the part of the inhabitants of the
surrounding country terrified the assassins, and most of them took to
flight; but those who lived in Nimes and who were alarmed for their own
safety and that of their families resolved to avert the blow that
menaced them.

There are traitors in every party, men ready to sell or to be sold; men
for whom treason and infamy are pathways to wealth. There were some of
these men in the Catholic ranks, and promises of gold induced them to go
out and meet the approaching army and assure its leaders that order was
re-established at Nimes and that their entrance into the city would only
occasion a fresh outbreak. These emissaries accomplished their mission;
and that same evening all these men who had left home that morning
thirsting for vengeance returned quietly to their firesides.

But, unfortunately, the Marquis de Chamondrin had taken such an active
part in this demonstration that he had deeply incensed the assassins;
and the more ferocious of them resolved to wreak vengeance upon him by
pillaging and burning his chateau. A conspiracy was organized, and the
following night about forty men of both parties, or rather the scum and
refuse of both, started for Chamondrin. They knew the castle had but a
small number of defenders, and that Coursegol, the most formidable of
these, was absent at the time. They also knew that the isolated
situation of the chateau afforded its inmates little chance of succor,
and that, if they could succeed in surprising it, they could accomplish
their work of destruction before the inhabitants of Remoulins and the
surrounding villages could come to the aid of the Marquis and his
household. The plan was decided upon in a few hours; and the disorder
that prevailed throughout the country, the inertness of t