battalion of foot, marched on the mill, and surrounded it. The
soldiers burst open the door, and found from two to three hundred
women, children, and old men engaged in prayer; and proceeded to put
them to the sword. But the marshal, impatient at the slowness of the
butchery, ordered the men to desist and to fire the place. This order
was obeyed, and the building, being for the most part of wood, was
soon wrapped in flames, from amidst which rose the screams of women
and children. All who tried to escape were bayoneted, or driven back
into the burning mill. Every soul perished--all excepting a girl, who
was rescued by one of Montrevel's servants. But the pitiless marshal
ordered both the girl and her deliverer to be put to death. The former
was hanged forthwith, but the lackey's life was spared at the
intercession of some sisters of mercy accidentally passing the place.

In the same savage and relentless spirit, Montrevel proceeded to
extirpate the Huguenots wherever found. He caused all suspected
persons in twenty-two parishes in the diocese of Nismes to be seized
and carried off. The men were transported to North America, and the
women and children imprisoned in the fortresses of Roussillon.

But the most ruthless measures were those which were adopted in the
Upper Cevennes: there nothing short of devastation would satisfy the
marshal. Thirty-two parishes were completely laid waste; the cattle,
grain, and produce which they contained were seized and carried into
the towns of refuge garrisoned by the Royalists--Alais, Anduze,
Florac, St. Hypolite, and Nismes--so that nothing should be left
calculated to give sustenance to the rebels. Four hundred and
sixty-six villages and hamlets were reduced to mere heaps of ashes and
blackened ruins, and such of their inhabitants as were not slain by
the soldiery fled with their families into the wilderness.

All the principal villages inhabited by the Protestants were thus
completely destroyed, together with their mills and barns, and every
building likely to give them shelter. Mialet was sacked and
burnt--Roland, still suffering from his wounds, being unable to strike
a blow in defence of his stronghold. St. Julien was also plundered and
levelled, and its inhabitants carried captive to Montpellier, where
the women and children were imprisoned, and the men sent to the
galleys.

When Cavalier heard of the determination of Montrevel to make a desert
of the country, he sent word t