untains, from whence they could descry the
soldiers pillaging their homes. However, they knew that their enemies would
not be satisfied with anything less than their lives, and these they
resolved to sell as dearly as possible. Pianezza's troops attacked them on
the 19th and 20th of April; but the Vaudois on each occasion drove back
their assailants with great loss. It was the bravery of the Vaudois at this
time that led the Duke of Savoy to say that the skin of a Vaudois cost
fifteen or twenty of his best Catholics. Indeed, during this siege fifty of
the Piedmontese soldiers were slain by the Vaudois, with only a loss of two
by the defenders. The perfidious marquis then resolved to seek by fraud
what he was unable to obtain by force.

He invited the deputies--among whom were Leger, the historian and pastor;
also the brave Joshua Janavello--to meet him at the convent of La Torre
early on Wednesday morning. He represented that he was only in pursuit of
those obstinate persons who had resisted the orders of Gastaldo; that the
others had nothing to fear, provided they would consent to receive a
regiment of infantry and two companies of horse soldiers, _as a mark of
obedience and fidelity to their prince_, for two or three days. He then
entertained them sumptuously, and sent them back to their communes to
persuade their brethren of his sincerity and kindness. Leger and Janavello
saw through the trick, but, alas! the others fell into the snare.
Accordingly the Vaudois consented to receive the soldiers into their houses
and to entertain them as friends. They allowed them to occupy their
hiding-places and strongholds, from whence no fair fight had ever driven
them. The very eagerness of the soldiers to penetrate into these recesses,
and their brutality on their way to the Pra del Tor, opened the eyes of the
Vaudois to their miserable condition. It is remarkable that the deputies
from Angrogna were the readiest to believe in Pianezza's promises, and
also the first to fall victims to his murderous soldiery. On Thursday and
Friday Pianezza was occupied with three things--first, in keeping those of
the Vaudois on the French frontier from escaping to that country; secondly,
in persuading the inhabitants of the valleys of his "good intentions;" and
thirdly, resting his soldiers in readiness for the day of slaughter. On
Good Friday the Vaudois observed the day according to the usage of their
church, by fasting and humiliation. They cou