Roccamanetto, the scene of many a victory won by the patriot bands, and
which, said Janavello on this occasion, is "our Tabor," the Vaudois stayed
the course of their assailants and finally compelled them to retreat with
considerable slaughter. Janavello then gave thanks to God, and after
leaving a guard led his troops down the valley, exclaiming, "Let us sweep
these cowards from the hills!"

After a determined charge in flank, and the renewed efforts of the Vaudois
already posted at the gate of Angrogna, the Piedmontese fled, leaving
behind them over six hundred dead, besides many wounded. As the results of
these discomfitures, a new general was appointed for the Piedmontese
troops, Count Damian; and although other successes followed the arms of the
patriots, yet they suffered a reverse at St. Germano, and frightful
cruelties were perpetrated by their enemies; _e.g._, at Roccapiatta they
burnt to death a woman nearly one hundred years of age, and bedridden. At
St. Germano a young woman is treated with every possible indecency, and
then left to die, after having her flesh cut from her bones. Other
atrocities also were wrought upon persons falling into the hands of the
soldiers, which it is impossible to recite. The Duke of Savoy now began to
feel disappointed at the results of this persecution of his subjects; and
the deputies of the Swiss cantons tried to obtain honourable conditions for
the Vaudois. Therefore a kind of amnesty was published Feb. 14th, 1664,
which, although professing to confirm the articles of the treaty of
Pinerolo, really abridged many of the privileges formerly enjoyed by the
Vaudois. It also imposed a fine of two million francs. Janavello was
refused any share in the benefits of this treaty, and consequently retired
to Geneva, where his valuable counsel stood Arnaud in good stead at a later
period. In the war between Charles Emmanuel of Savoy and the Genoese, in
1672, the Vaudois rendered such cheerful and valuable help that their
sovereign was constrained to make a public acknowledgment of their
services. A brighter day now seemed dawning upon these faithful valley men.
To be the object of their ruler's confidence and affection was a pleasure
as sweet to their taste as rare in their experience. But, alas! this
pleasant change is but a break in the dark clouds which have so long
overshadowed their troubled life, and but the precursor of a storm of
bitterness and cruelty unsurpassed even in their ann