ing combat.

As soon as Cavalier saw the royals advancing, he ordered his men,
according to custom, to offer up prayers to God, and when these were
finished he disposed his troops for battle. His plan was to take up
position with the greater part of his men on the other side of a
ravine, which would thus form a kind of moat between him and the king's
soldiers; he also ordered about thirty horsemen to make a great round,
thus reaching unseen a little wood about two hundred yards to his left,
where they could conceal themselves; and lastly, he sent to a point on
the right sixty foot-soldiers chosen from his best marksmen, whom he
ordered not to fire until the royal forces were engaged in the struggle
with him.

M. de La Jonquiere having approached to within a certain distance,
halted, and sent one of his lieutenants named de Sainte-Chatte to make
a reconnaissance, which he did, advancing beyond the men in ambush, who
gave no sign of their existence, while the officer quietly examined the
ground. But Sainte-Chatte was an old soldier of fortune and not easily
taken in, so on his return, while explaining the plan of the ground
chosen by Cavalier for the disposition of his troops to M. de La
Jonquiere, he added that he should be very much astonished if the young
Camisard had not employed the little wood on his left and the lie of
the ground on his right as cover for soldiers in ambush; but M. de La
Jonquiere returned that the only thing of importance was to know the
position of the principal body of troops in order to attack it at once.
Sainte-Chatte told him that the principal body was that which was before
his eyes, and that on this subject there could be no mistake; for he had
approached near enough to recognise Cavalier himself in the front rank.

This was enough for M. de La Jonquiere: he put himself at the head of
his men and rode straight to the ravine, beyond which Cavalier and
his comrades awaited him in order of battle. Having got within a
pistol-shot, M. de La Jonquiere gave the order to fire, but he was so
near that Cavalier heard the words and saw the motion made by the men
as they made ready; he therefore gave a rapid sign to his men, who threw
themselves on their faces, as did their leader, and the bullets passed
over them without doing any harm M.M. de La Jonquiere, who believed them
all dead, was astonished when Cavalier and his Camisards rose up and
rushed upon the royal troops, advancing to the sound of a