Only three of the boats, however, made the second journey in safety, and so
some were not brought from the Swiss side of the lake. When Arnaud reviewed
his forces he found there were some 900 men who had safely crossed the
lake. A small band indeed for so great an enterprise; a very inadequate
force to contend with thousands of disciplined troops, and to overcome the
obstacles which would be raised by hostile populations through whose
territories they must pass; to encounter the fatigue of forced marches over
craggy precipices, along deep and dangerous defiles--in addition, to do all
this with but slender equipments of food and other necessaries. Still, no
one draws back. They have counted the cost. They deem the prize at which
they aim worthy of the risk they run. They are sustained by the
recollections of past deliverance. "Our fathers trusted in Thee, and Thou
didst deliver them; they cried unto Thee, and were delivered; they trusted
in Thee, and were not confounded," was the sentiment which sped them onward
in their arduous march. Nor did Arnaud neglect any suitable means of an
ordinary kind for ensuring success. He divided his 900 men into twenty
companies, organized with reference to their native communes; _e.g._,
Angrogna had three companies, with their captains; San Giovanni two, &c.
They were arranged to march in regular military order, having a vanguard,
centre, and rear, observing the strictest discipline. Beside Arnaud, there
were two other pastors with the little army, Chyon of Pont a Royans, in
Dauphiny, and Montoux of the Val Pragela. The first, however, was soon lost
to the expedition; for, having incautiously entered the first village they
reached in order to obtain a guide, he was taken prisoner, and detained at
Chambery until the peace. As soon as the army was ready to march, the
patriot band again sought the blessing of the God of their fathers. They
then set out in a southerly direction, passing through the little town of
Yvoire, and compelled Savoyard gentlemen and priests to accompany them as
hostages and guides. The alarm felt at first by the people through whose
villages they passed subsided when their orderly conduct became known, so
that after a time the peasants, with their ministers, were seen approaching
and watching the troops as they filed off, and even crying after them, "May
God be with you!" In some cases refreshments were also supplied, and
remuneration refused. However, a different expe