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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..161e099 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #50122 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50122) diff --git a/old/50122-0.txt b/old/50122-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 27126ea..0000000 --- a/old/50122-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3463 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Glorious Return, by Crona Temple - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: The Glorious Return - A Story of the Vaudois in 1698 - -Author: Crona Temple - -Release Date: October 3, 2015 [EBook #50122] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GLORIOUS RETURN *** - - - - -Produced by Chris Curnow, Lindy Walsh, Chuck Greif and the -Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - THE GLORIOUS RETURN. - - [Illustration: ARNAUD POINTING TO THE VAUDOIS HILLS. - - _See page 110._] - - - - - THE GLORIOUS RETURN - - A Story of the Vaudois in 1689 - - BY - - CRONA TEMPLE - - _Author of “The Last House in London,” etc._ - - THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY, - - 56, PATERNOSTER ROW; 65, ST. PAUL’S CHURCHYARD, - AND 164, PICCADILLY. - - - - -PREFACE. - - -It is nearly two hundred years since the long persecutions of the Church -in the Alpine valleys ended in their ‘Glorious Return’ from exile, and -their gain of liberty of conscience and freedom from the yoke of Rome. -It is but right that in 1889 Protestant countries should unite in -offering sympathy and brotherly help to the Waldensian Church in its -time of commemoration. Two hundred years ago, Britain, Germany, Holland, -Switzerland, and the Protestants of France vied with each other in -showing their generous love for these sorely-tried children of God. And -in these happier times it is well to turn back the history page, to -learn what it was that stirred the hearts of our forefathers; to learn -what manner of woe it was that the Vaudois endured; to read how the God -they served did not suffer them to be tempted beyond what they were able -to bear, but--giving them the high honour of bearing witness to His -truth, He comforted them at last with His gifts of freedom and of peace. -It is in such memories that nations may learn their lessons of truest -wisdom. Christianity should be national as well as individual: the -Heavenly King demands service from nations as well as from hearts. And -it is right that, though the Waldenses are foreigners, and a people of -but small account on Europe’s muster-roll, their bi-centenary should -waken echoes in England; such echoes as God wills that noble deeds -should stir throughout all time. - - - - -THE GLORIOUS RETURN. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - - -The sunlight was fading from the hills, and the pine-forests were -growing grey in the creeping shadow. - -A northerly breeze had been blowing from the mountains, but it had died -down, as north winds do, with the sunsetting; a great stillness had -fallen upon the valleys. - -One could hear the torrent as it leapt from the snows above, rushing and -gurgling in the gorge it had graven for itself on its way to the Pélice -River. One could hear too, faint and far away, the cry of the ravens as -they circled over a meadow; and one might catch the jarring call of a -night-hawk as it woke from its daylight sleep. - -But these sounds rather blended with than broke upon the silence. And -there seemed besides no sign of life or motion in all the width of the -valley. - -There were traces of cultivation on the hill-sides where careful hands -had terraced and tilled the stony soil, winning from the wilderness -fields for pastures and for corn. - -There were also buildings that had the semblance of cottages, a group of -ruins here by the stream-side, and single ones standing yonder beyond -the spurs of the pine-woods. - -But in those fields were now neither flocks nor herds, nor any sign of -corn; and from those broken chimneys no smoke-wreaths drifted to tell of -human lives about the warm hearth-stones. - -It was the year 1687, and the valley was the Valley of Luserna, in the -Piedmontese Alps. - -This was the country of the Vaudois, and it was indeed desolate after -the bitter persecution which had followed the Revocation of the Edict of -Nantes. - -Storms of cruelty and the bitterness of superstition had swept the -valleys at various times, but never a storm so devastating and terrible -as this. From Fenestrelle to Rora, from the Pra Pass to the plains of -Piedmont, fire and sword had driven forth the remnant of the Vaudois. -Hundreds had fallen, fighting for their faith and for their homes; -hundreds had perished under the white pall of the winter snows; and -hundreds more had died on the scaffold or in the prisons of the plain. - -And the remnant, the poor harried and hunted souls, had gone forth to -seek an asylum--if such there might be found--where they might worship -their God according to His Word. - -The sun sank lower yet; the line of light retreated farther up the -mountain-peaks. The ravens sullenly stooped and settled on the rocks. -The torrent kept its noisy way, charged with the blue snow-water that -came glancing from the hills. - -Suddenly a woman’s voice rose on the air, clear, and very sweet. It came -through the sprays of creeping plants that veiled a crag so steep that -one might marvel how human being could have climbed there. It was a -haunt fit only for the chamois or the hill-sheep; and on either hand -spread dense forests and ravines where the snow-wreaths lay yet -unmelted. - -The song rang forth. It was no wavering strain, no uncertain sound, but -a chant of triumph that held also a note of defiance-- - - ‘God’s Name is great! - He breaketh the arrow of the bow, - The shield, the sword and the battle. - Thou art of more honour and might than the mountains of prey. - Thou, even Thou art to be feared. - The earth trembled and was still when God arose - To help the meek upon the earth. - The fierceness of man shall turn to Thy praise, - And the fierceness of the violent shalt Thou restrain. - God shall refrain the spirit of princes. - The Lord our God is terrible unto the kings of the earth.’ - -The voice ceased; as the last note died away the last sun-shaft touched -the highest peak. The day was done. Night had fallen on the Valley of -Luserna. - -Behind the ivy-sprays and the clinging rock plants there was a path on -the face of the cliff widening as it rose, until--some fifty feet above -the stream--it spread into a platform or tiny amphitheatre completely -hidden from any prying eye that might search the cliff from below. - -From above one might perhaps peer into its recesses; but then no living -thing ever did look from above, save the falcons and the ravens, or -perhaps a wild goat, tempted by the tufts of mountain flowers which -bloomed against the edges of the snow. - -Presently, far back in the hill-cleft, a small red flame leaped up, fed -on dried grasses and fir-cones. - -‘Rénée, Rénée,’ called a woman’s voice, ‘thou art too rash, dear child. -May not that light betray us after all?’ - -‘Oh, no, mother! No one comes here now; we are safe, quite safe. And see -where Tutu creeps forward to the blaze! Thou art cold, my poor Tutu? -Then rest thee, none will harm thee here.’ - -[Illustration: MAY NOT THAT LIGHT BETRAY?] - -A dormouse lifted its beadlike eyes to the speaker’s face, as if well -understanding that it was loved and safe. It was a sort of friend to -these poor refugees, here in their mountain hiding-place, a creature -even more weak and helpless than themselves. - -Again the woman’s voice was heard. - -‘Dear child, be not stubborn. Have we endured so much only to perish now -for lack of a little further patience? A fire even by daylight is rash, -at night its glow is almost certain to be seen.’ - -The girl she addressed stood silent for a moment, the flicker of the -fire fell on her slender figure and on the graceful lines of her head -and throat. Then she stooped and flung earth upon the flame, treading -out the scarcely kindled heap, and scattering the fir-cones till their -brightened edges died into little rims and coils of grey. - -Rénée Janavel had learnt how to obey and how to suffer, but to-night one -word of pleading forced its way from her lips. - -‘It is in the night,’ she said, ‘in the dark night that we need the -cheer and the warmth. Oh, mother, I lit the fire to keep away my -fear----’ - -The words sank in a broken whisper; it was strange for Rénée Janavel to -speak of fear. - -The woman paused in wonder. - -Why should Rénée be afraid of aught but the danger which the blaze might -bring--the danger of cruel men who were thirsting for their blood: men -who had sworn that no remnant of the proscribed race should be left in -the valleys, and who had swept the fields and forests again and again in -their search for any Vaudois in hiding there? Rénée, child of the -mountains as she was, why should she fear anything but this? The winter -was past, and the prowling wolves had withdrawn themselves; the shy -black bears that haunted the hills were not creatures to be greatly -affrighted at. What ailed the girl? - -Rénée came to her side, and hid her face against the woman’s knee. - -‘It is so lonely,’ she murmured brokenly. ‘Lately, at night, I have -thought over many things, terrible things--and I have been frightened -even to turn my head, too frightened to call to you. Oh, mother, mother -dear! will these days never have an end? Shall we never be happy again, -Gaspard and you and I? - -‘I know that it is cowardly,’ she went on in pathetic appeal. ‘But, -mother, you are well now, almost quite strong again: could we not creep -away and gain the Swiss country where the rest are gone; and see the -dear friendly faces, and sleep in peace, afraid of no man?’ - -She stopped, for her throat was full of sobbing, and her head sank lower -yet upon the trembling hands. - -Just then some remaining spark of fire was kindled into blaze by the -wind that swept into the cave, and the dried grass leapt into a red -flame that threw dancing gleams and shadows on the rocks around, and -touched the trunk of a pine overhanging the place with a glow as of -deepest orange. Little Tutu, the dormouse, curled himself up in soft -satisfaction, a nut which Rénée had given him held tight in his tiny -paws. - -The woman looked at the fire, but she did not again ask that it should -be extinguished. - -‘Rénée,’ she said, ‘it is out of all possibility that I should climb the -hill passes. I can never see the Swiss country. And, indeed, here in -mine own land I would choose to stay, that my last earthly look should -rest on the valley I love so well. And for yourself, dear child, how -could you go all that long and dangerous way? It was for my sake that -you stayed, Rénée. But now--I would not keep you, child, if it were -possible for you to gain safety, to reach friends, there in the land -where one may worship the good God in peace. But as it is----’ - -‘Mother! do not speak so! Never, never can I desert you! You know I will -not leave you while life holds us together.’ - -She rose to her feet. One might see the stateliness of her figure as she -stood betwixt the fire-glow and the twilight, her head erect, her face -full of the strength of love and trust. - -‘Sing it again, mother,’ she said, ‘the hymn that you sang just now. And -forget that Rénée has been afraid of shadows.’ - -The woman took her hand and held it tenderly between her own. - -‘Tell me, Rénée,’ she said, ‘why were you frightened? Has any new thing -chanced?’ - -‘No, no; it is the long weariness, the uncertainty, the remembering--oh, -it is just everything! Whilst you were ill, mother, I had no time to be -frightened; but now, when we sit and watch the sun go down, I remember -all that has happened, and I turn sick at my very heart.’ - -She shuddered. They had passed, those two women, through terror enough -to try any mortal nerves, and privations sufficient to exhaust the -strongest frame. It was small marvel that Rénée trembled as she -remembered the past. - -‘Sing, mother,’ she said again; ‘Gaspard was always wont to say that -your songs uplifted his courage.’ - -So ‘The Psalm of Strong Confidence’ was chanted once more, the notes of -the woman’s voice filling the place with its rich volume of sound. The -quick blaze had died down, and the dark shades fell across the cavern. -But without, beyond the stooping pines, the sky was brightening. The -stars stole out on the deep vault of blue, those glittering stars which -tell through all speech and language that the statutes of the Lord are -true, and that in keeping of them there is great reward. - -And the two women sat, hand in hand, serene in spite of trouble; -content, although they were homeless and hunted on the earth. Nay, just -now they were more than ‘content!’ they could rejoice that they, like -their martyred ancestors, were found worthy to bear the cross of -suffering for their Master’s sake. - -Rénée Janavel was an orphan. Madeleine Botta, the woman she called -‘mother,’ was bound to her not by ties of blood, but by the stronger -ties of love and gratitude. She had inherited a name which was known -throughout the length and breadth of the valleys. Her grandfather, ‘the -hero of Rora,’ Joshua Janavel, had led the patriot bands who battled -against enormous odds in the persecution of 1655 and the few following -years. Her father had been sentenced by the Inquisition, and if he were -not dead, his miserable existence, chained to an oar as a galley-slave, -was worse a hundred times for him than death itself. - -Her young mother had perished in the prisons of Turin, and Rénée, a mere -child when the Duke of Savoy stopped for a time those terrible deeds of -blood, had lived always at Rora with the Bottas. - -Madeleine Botta had lost her own daughter, and she had taken Rénée to -her heart instead, loving and cherishing her until the desolate child -almost forgot that Madeleine was not in very truth what she always -called her, ‘her mother.’ And was she not Gaspard’s mother? and were not -Gaspard’s people to be her people? his life, her life? She would have -been Gaspard’s wife at Easter-tide, had not this new time of death and -danger come upon the valleys. Now he was swept off with the fighting -men, none exactly could tell whither; and she was here, hidden in the -rock-ledges, seeking shelter with Madeleine from the ravaging hordes -that had sworn to ‘exterminate the heretics as they would exterminate -all other sorts of noxious beasts.’ - -The home at Rora was a heap of ashes; the peaceful days when Rénée drove -the goats down the hill in the shadowy afternoon, or sat busily spinning -the flax at Madeleine’s knee, were gone for ever. There had been -troubles then, of course, but troubles so tiny that now in comparison -they seemed to be positive pleasures. - -Henri Botta, the house-master, was a hard-featured man, whose rare words -were sometimes wont to be hard; he looked on the world as a vale of -sighing, a place where evil reigned, and no man should desire to be -happy. Rénée used to shrink from his warning words, and strive to avoid -his grim glances. Now how glad she would have been to have heard the -sound of his voice, or to have seen the outline of his rugged face! - -Then there was Emile, the eldest son, almost as hard and silent as his -father; and even Gaspard had a trick of shutting his lips tightly -together and frowning till his black brows met, when the talk was of the -future or the past. - -But Gaspard had never been hard to Rénée--never. He had been to Turin -learning his trade, a carpenter he was, and the best carpenter, as Rénée -proudly said, in all the commune. He was away for years, for such -delicate work as his is not learned in a hurry, and on his return he -found the child Rénée grown into a fair and gracious maiden, the -realisation of the dreams which had haunted his young manhood. - -And so he loved her, and wooed her, and won her; learning from her -gentleness to unbend his sternness, teaching her girlish heart to be -staunch and earnest. - -They had built and plenished their future home in the simple fashion of -the valley folk. Rénée was already stitching at the wedding gear, and -Madeleine Botta had proudly piled the homespun linen which was to be -her marriage gift to the girl who was already as her dear daughter. - -And then-- - -But the tale is dark in the telling. One must go back some way in -Europe’s history to understand how such deeds came to be done, how such -devastation fell ever and again on the devoted people of the Vaudois -valleys. - -[Illustration: RORA.] - - - - -CHAPTER II. - - -There are sad pages in all histories: there are tales in every land the -telling of which must awaken deep feelings of horror. Man’s inhumanity -to man has always been the dark stain upon God’s earth. - -But no cruelties of the ancient days--not even the ghastly enormities of -Nero or the evil deeds of the ‘dark ages’--can exceed the terror and -trouble, the fiendish works, the rage and oppression which have reigned -in the Vaudois valleys. - -From primitive times those valleys in the Savoy Alps have been the -refuge of Christians who only asked to be allowed to live, harmless and -insignificant, tending their mulberry trees, their vineyards and their -corn; with liberty to serve God according to the simple faith which had -been handed down to them from their fathers. They had books which they -greatly prized,--portions of God’s Word, poems, commentaries, and their -own _Noble Lesson_. This celebrated book was written or compiled about -the year 1100, in the Romance language,--and in this language they also -possessed the text of the Psalms and several books of the Old and New -Testaments. - -They themselves declared that it was the persecutions of the Roman -emperors which had driven the first Christian settlers to the valleys; -and if it were so the little Church, born of persecution and nourished -by martyrdom, had learned from the first to endure all things as good -soldiers of its Master, Christ. - -From the earliest times there have always been faithful hearts humbly -following the steps of the Lord, seeking, above earthly wealth and weal, -to know and to do God’s will. And such there will ever be until the -Master comes again. Evil may seem triumphant, and pride and arrogance -lift prosperous fronts, but the Lord knoweth them that are His, and -there shall never lack a remnant to watch and wait for Him. - -It is not needful to trace in this story the growth of the pomp and -power of the Bishop of Rome, nor to tell at length how the ‘successor’ -of St. Peter ceased to be either humble or faithful. The Empire of the -West had crumbled away, the ancient seat of the Cæsars was empty, and -gradually the bishop became the most important person in the city, -claiming one thread of power after another until the ‘Sovereign Pontiff’ -asserted rule and right over the length and breadth of Christendom. - -It was strange that such pretensions could be based on the Gospel of Him -who took on Himself the form of a servant, and whose first words of -teaching were a blessing on the ‘poor in spirit.’ Perhaps it was partly -a dim consciousness of this that made pope and cardinals wish the people -not to read the writings of the apostles and the words of the Lord. - -But reading in those days was no easy matter. - -Books were scarce and costly. Learning was difficult. The bulk of the -people only heard God’s Word through the mouths of those whose gain it -was to suppress and distort its simple teaching. Men and women lived and -died believing that pope and priest could forgive sins and wipe off all -offences, and that a handful of gold pieces could purchase their -entrance into paradise. - -It was through these dark days that the Light of the Truth burned clear -in the hearts and homes of the simple race dwelling on the confines of -Savoy, where the frontier lines of Switzerland and France met on the -white-hill peaks. And this race it was, this ‘nest of heretics,’ that -the Roman power resolved to crush and kill. - -The first persecution that was regularly organised to destroy them root -and branch took place at the end of the twelfth century. In addition to -those slain outright, the number of those carried into captivity was so -great that the Archbishop of Avignon declared that he had ‘so many -prisoners it is impossible not only to defray the charge of their -nourishment, but to get enough lime and stone to build prisons for -them.’ - -From this time onwards the history of valleys is one long tale of -persecution. The intervals when ‘the churches had rest, and were -edified,’ were so short that the accounts of suffering and martyrdom -must have been handed down verbally from father to son. Thirty-two -invasions were endured, invasions of troops filled with the remorseless -rage of religious fanaticism. - -But it was in the year 1650 that the bitterest storm broke over them. It -was a time of extraordinary ‘religious’ feeling, and councils were -established in Turin and other cities, having for their object the -spread of the Romish faith and the utter extirpation of heretics. The -plan on which they worked was just the old barbarous way of force and -fire, and the worst weapon of all, treachery. - -Once again the Vaudois fled before the soldiers hired to butcher them. -The caves and dens of the rocks, the mountain passes filled with snows -that April suns had no power to melt, the natural fastnesses and -citadels of the hills--these were the places to which the villagers -escaped. And as they went they were lighted by the blaze of their -burning homesteads, and followed by the shrieks and groans of the weak -and their helpless defenders, whom the ruthless murderers overtook, -tortured and slew. - -It was then that Janavel of Rora came to the front. He had but six men -with him when he first made a stand on the heights above Villaro, where -the mountain track leads over the Collina di Rabbi to Rora. He lay in -ambush, resolved to do what he could to stop the foreign soldiers from -ravaging his home, and in his desperate mood he had no thought save to -sell his life as dearly as he could: what could seven men do against -hundreds? - -But in that narrow place seven men could do much. The simultaneous -discharge of their muskets threw the soldiers into confusion. No enemy -was to be seen; the troops could not be sure that those rocks and trees -did not shelter scores of Vaudois. They faltered, then fell back. - -Again the musket-balls came crashing from the hill-side. It was more -than hired courage could stand! The troops of Savoy turned and fled, -leaving sixty or seventy of their number dead on the ground. - -They fled only to return. The next day six hundred picked men ascended -the mountain by the Cassutee, a wider, more practicable path. But here -also Janavel was ready for them. He had now gathered eighteen herdsmen, -some armed with muskets and pistols, but the greater number having only -slings and flint stones, which they knew very well how to use. Their -ambush was well chosen. The column advanced, only to be assailed flank -and front with a shower of balls and stones. Again this invisible foe -was too much for them to stand. They thought only of escaping from the -fatal defile; once more Janavel was victorious. - -The Marquis of Pianezza, the Savoy leader, was furious at these -repulses. He hastily collected his whole force, sending for his -lieutenant, the impetuous and cruel Mario, to bring up the rear-guard, -together with some bands of Irish mercenaries, who were specially fit -for dashing and dangerous service. Rora should surely be carried this -time! Every soul there should rue the hour in which they had dared to -oppose Pianezza! - -But Janavel and his heroes were armed with a strength on which the foe -had little calculated. For the third time victory rested with the weak. -For the third time the soldiers were driven down the mountain-slopes, -hurling one another to destruction in their mad flight. - -But this could not last for ever. Eight thousand soldiers and two -thousand popish peasants were marched on Rora, and this time the work of -death was done. - -Janavel and his friends, who had been decoyed to a distance from the -village, escaped with their lives, and for many weeks they carried on -the struggle, only to be beaten at last, overpowered by numbers. But the -name of Janavel was reverenced far and wide as that of a good man, ‘bold -as a lion, meek as a lamb,’ rendering to God alone the praise of his -victories, dauntless in his faith and love, while tried as few are -tried. His wife and daughter had fallen into the hands of -Pianezza,--spared for the time from the massacre at Rora; a letter from -the general reached Janavel, offering him his life, and their lives, if -he would abjure his heresy, but threatening him with death and his dear -ones with being burnt alive if he persisted in his resistance. ‘We are -in God’s hands,’ answered Janavel; ‘our bodies may die by your means, -but our souls will serve Him by the grace that He gives to us. Tempt me -no more.’ - -And much the same he wrote thirty years after, when he and Pastor Arnaud -planned the Glorious Return. - -It was no marvel that Rénée, Gaspard Botta’s betrothed wife, blushed as -she spoke of fear. The blood of her heroic grandsire ran in her veins. -She too could trust in God, and for His sake endure. - -There was a time of peace after that terrible persecution. The whole of -Protestant Europe had remonstrated against the cruelties and horrors -that had taken place. Oliver Cromwell, then governing England, sent an -ambassador to Turin to enforce, if possible, his indignant demand for -mercy. Holland, Switzerland, the German Protestant powers, and even a -large number of French subjects, all sent messengers to the Duke of -Savoy. And they sent also large sums--more than a million francs--to -relieve the most pressing necessities of the homeless and the -destitute. - -The Duke of Savoy died, and under the rule of his son, Victor Amadeus -II., the Vaudois had some years of peace. They showed their gratitude -for this forbearance by loyally defending the frontier against the -Genoese, and by eagerly helping to quell the banditti infesting the -mountain passes. They sought to prove, with a devotion that borders upon -pathos, that they also could be good subjects, that their allegiance to -their God only heightened their loyalty to their sovereign. - -It was then that Rénée Janavel sang as she sewed the long seams in the -linen store that her foster-mother had spun. It was then that Gaspard -would whistle as his plane cut through the white plank, and the shavings -fell, silky and shining, about his feet. - -Even the grim house-master would let the suspicion of a smile lurk under -the straight moustache of iron-grey that almost hid his lips. He could -remember the times of terror--oh, yes, he could remember them only too -well!--but ferns and wreaths of mauve auricula were now growing about -the ruins that had then been made so fearsome; and the mulberries were -flourishing again; and it was a comfort to see Mother Madeleine about -and well after her sharp attack of fever a year or two ago; and Emile -and Gaspard had grown sturdy and strong--the finest young men in all -Rora; and Rénée--the child--was always singing when she was not -laughing: what a gay, sweet heart it was, to be sure! And, all things -considered, it was no marvel that Henri Botta now and then forgot all -the ghastly doings of the past, and let a smile dawn upon his lips or -glimmer in his eyes. - -[Illustration: GASPARD AND RÉNÉE.] - -‘Shall it be in the spring time, dear?’ Gaspard said, as he stood in the -house that his hands had builded for his bride, and let his glance rest -lovingly on her bright face. ‘Say, dear, shall we light our fire on this -hearth when the snows melt on Mount Friolent, and the flowers bloom -under the hedges yonder?’ - -If she did not answer him in words, he was nevertheless well contented. -And it was settled that so it should be: for not even the neighbours -could disapprove of such a marriage. Were not the two born for each -other? he so strong and dark and staunch, and she so fair and sweet! And -was not Gaspard the best workman in the commune, with his earnings all -safely saved since he came back from Turin? - -Why should there not be a marriage procession along the stream-side to -the little white-walled church when the flowers bloomed? Why not, -indeed? And wide and long should be the festive wreaths woven of those -very flowers to do honour to the grandchild of the hero Janavel. - -It was the close of the year 1685. There had been twenty years of -freedom in the valleys--twenty calm years of liberty and peace. The -horrid sounds of massacre had died away before Rénée was old enough to -remember, before Gaspard was old enough to understand. And so they -looked into one another’s eyes, and thought that life and love and earth -and heaven were smiling on their troth. - -But far away, beyond the French Alps, beyond the vineyards of Burgundy -and the Lyonais, an old man sat in his splendid palace, a wretched and -restless man, who had something to say to the plans and the promises of -the simple folk in the Savoy valleys. - -For he was King Louis XIV., Louis, surnamed the Great, Louis, the -husband of the bigot Françoise de Maintenon, trying in his old age of -repentance to atone for the guilt of a misspent life. Madame de -Maintenon hated heretics as her cold, calculating heart hated nothing -else; and she loved the approval and the flattery of her courtier -priests far more than she loved the king. - -‘Revoke the edicts giving liberty to the Protestants, sire,’ she said to -her husband. ‘Crush heresy, and so purchase your peace with God.’ - -Louis listened. He was aged and ailing; his sons were dead; his -friends--such friends as he had--were dead too. He also must soon appear -before the Throne that was greater even than the glories of his own. It -was time he hearkened to the promptings of the Church. Popes and priests -must know best about these things; he would do their bidding, and do it -thoroughly, as a king should! - -So the edicts were revoked throughout the land of France. All the civil -rights of his subjects belonging to the Reformed faith were taken away. -The heretics must be converted, or go, or die. - -Thus he ordered. - -And even then, not quite content, he forced his neighbour, the young -Duke of Savoy, to do likewise. To the valleys also the persecution -should extend. - - * * * * * - -And Gaspard set his teeth hard as he brightened up his father’s sword; -and Rénée’s tears fell fast as she folded away the snowy linen she had -bleached so fair. - -[Illustration: GASPARD SHARPENING HIS SWORD.] - -When the violets bloomed in the hedges long processions passed that were -different indeed from marriage-trains. Trumpet-calls and the tramp of -troops echoed from the hills and rocks; and the white walls of the -church had been splashed with crimson, and were now blackened with fire. - -Once more Rome had sent her ‘terror’ to the valleys. Once more faith was -to be tried to the death, and steadfast souls to win their martyr -crowns. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - - -[Illustration] - -Victor Amadeus did not obey King Louis without a struggle. He was -content with his Vaudois subjects; they were industrious and -law-abiding, and they were a valuable defence against invasion from the -west, and a check upon the bandits of the Alps. Why should he harry and -hunt them forth to soothe the sore conscience of that tyrannical old man -in Versailles? - -But the French ambassador put the matter in a light which speedily -convinced Victor Amadeus. His master, he said, King Louis, had resolved -that heresy should be stamped utterly out. He would send an army to the -Savoy valleys, an army quite strong enough to accomplish the purpose. -The Duke of Savoy need not trouble himself at all. The work should be -done, and thoroughly done, by the French alone, but--and the addition -had a strong and grave significance--but the King of France would retain -the Piedmont valleys for his trouble! - -What could Duke Victor say? These Vaudois, after all, were heretics; his -own father had done exactly what King Louis was now urging upon him to -do; hesitation might be another name for lukewarmness in a holy cause. -And at all risks he must avoid giving Louis an excuse for making good -his footing on the soil of Savoy. - -Therefore the proclamation was signed. - -A terrible proclamation it was. It ordained complete cessation of every -religious service, save that of the Romish faith; the immediate -destruction of the churches; the banishment of the pastors, and the -baptism of every child by Romish priests, who were henceforth to educate -and control all young people. - -The punishment for disobeying or evading this edict was death. - -Dismay entered all hearts. Rome was once more to whet her savage sword. -And the mountaineers, helpless, defenceless, could only die, since -submission to such edicts could not be. - -They remembered 1655, and the way in which a handful of men had beaten -back Pianezza and his hordes. - -The courage that had nerved Janavel and his heroes was still alight in -the valleys. They too would fight for their homes and their churches, -for the honour of their wives, for the faith of their little ones. - -So entrenchments were thrown up in the ravines, and turf and rough -stones piled up on every point of vantage; stores were hastily -collected, and the corn-stacks were threshed out. The women did their -part; even the children were busy as bees. - -Henri Botta heard the careless laughter of a string of boys and girls as -they ran up the steps of the mill, carrying each one a burden of wheat -or rye, and his grave face grew sterner still as he harkened. - -‘Little they know! little they know!’ he muttered in his beard. ‘Laugh! -‘tis the last laughter that will sound in Luserna for many and many a -day.’ - -The horrors of the months that followed cannot here be told. Is it not -an awful thing that men have committed atrocities of which one cannot -speak--that living bodies and tortured souls have borne what our ears -cannot suffer to hear--what our minds cannot endure to conceive? Frail -women, modest and gentle girls, the babies too young to know the terror -of the sword that slew them, the old men whose white hairs were but -signals for scoff and insult--all these helpless ones were the butt and -playthings of the brutal soldiers, whose most merciful dealing was -death. Aye, happy were those whose doom was _only_ death! - -Botta and his two sons fought at the barricade which crossed the road -above Casiana. Emile was amongst the first to fall. His father saw him -stagger, and rushed forward to his help; but, as he reached upwards to -where Emile lay on the ridge of the earthwork, a second ball crashed -into the prostrate figure. The boy was shot through the heart. - -‘Let him lie there,’ muttered Botta, with a quietude more sad than -tears. ‘Let him lie there, on the crest of the barricade. Even in death -he shall defend the valleys.’ - -Yet the heroism and devotion so lavishly poured out in those days and -weeks of struggle were in vain. Once more the valleys were swept from -north to south, from the Palavas Alps to the Po River--once more the -red flames raged and triumphed above the cottage roofs; and over the -fields, and by the swift torrent water, the flying people were hunted -down and slain. - - * * * * * - -It was the end of April, 1686. The home of the Bottas was a blackened -heap of ruin; the orchards, where the tufts of pink apple-blossom should -be already showing, were hacked and hewed away, and the down-trodden -vines lay in long trailing lines amid the wrecks of the village. - -A few soldiers lounged and laughed in their encampments hard by; they -were roasting a goat that they had shot for their supper, and their rude -jokes as they did so roused noisy mirth. Their task of blood and cruelty -had brutalized them to a degree hard to believe, did not one know how -low human nature can fall when riot and licence cut away the cords of -gentleness and justice, and the blood-thirst is awakened--that thirst -which men share with the tigers. - -Henri, the house-master, was gone from Rora; where, none could tell, for -the Vaudois troops had been scattered like clouds before the tempest. -Gaspard had come back alone, creeping up the passes in the night, -hiding, and groping his dangerous way, to find out what had befallen -his mother and Rénée. - -He knew every nook and crevice of the ridges that rose grim and almost -inaccessible between the ravine and Villaro; somewhere hereabouts he -hoped to find them, unless--indeed---- - -And the young man’s haggard eyes gleamed with the look that it is ill to -see on mortal face as he counted out what that ‘unless’ might mean. - -His search was long, and his heart grew heavier hour by hour. Perhaps -they had already been driven off to prison in Turin; or, perhaps--and if -he were not to find them Gaspard knew that he ought to pray that it -might be so--perhaps they had already joined Emile in the land where -fighting and desolation and death is over for ever, where God Himself -will give comfort and the calmness of His peace. - -The dawn was breaking, the glad, sweet dawn of the spring morning, and -Gaspard slowly dragged himself beneath the shelter of the pines. He must -not stand there, exposed, under those shafts of clear, keen light, -unless he were willing to take his chance of a musket-ball from the -duke’s soldiers, whose orders were to clear the country as a broom -sweeps over a floor. - -There was a cavern here, up under the cliff, a place where he might lie -and rest, and eat the crust of bread he carried in his wallet. -Rest--food--they were sorely needed, yet he felt as though rest were -impossible, and food would choke him. - -[Illustration: GASPARD AT THE CAVE.] - -He lifted the ivy trails and stood a moment, peering into the dimness. -These mountain caves held strange creatures now and then. - -From out of the darkness came a sudden cry. - -‘O Gaspard, O Gaspard! is it thou?’ - -He staggered. He was worn and faint, and just at that moment the hope -was dim of finding those he sought. His brain whirled round; he put his -hand to his eyes, bewildered. - -Then a woman’s arms reached out to him, and confused words, and little -cries of joy, and short sobs came in broken gusts and silences. - -‘Gaspard! Oh, thanks be to God! Thou art living then, Gaspard! Mother, -mother, awake! here is he, our Gaspard.’ And Rénée clung to him and hid -her face against his breast. - -They were safe then, as yet! And his voice came back to him as he knelt -to kiss his mother’s hand and cheek. Ah, the swords of the duke were -sharp, the desolation of the valleys was drear, the house-father was an -exile, and Emile lay in his gory grave; but an offering of heartfelt -praise went up to God’s throne as the re-united ones held each other’s -hands and thanked the Lord that day. - -There was much to hear on either side, and the women’s faces grew very -grave when Gaspard told them what had happened in the valleys of Luserna -and Angrogna. Cannon and cavalry had been too much for the mountaineers -in the villages and on the roads, and treachery had beguiled them from -the entrenchments on the heights to which they had fled. The Savoy -general had offered, in the duke’s name, safe and honourable treatment -for themselves, their wives, and children, if they would throw -themselves on their conquerer’s clemency. The words were fair, the terms -all they dared expect. They trusted the promise and laid down their -arms. - -How their trust was betrayed is a long and shameful tale. Some were led -in chains to the fortresses of the plains, some were executed then and -there, many were destroyed by the brutal soldiers, and two thousand -little children were handed over to Roman Catholic families to be -trained in that religion. - -Thus it was that Victor Amadeus conquered--for the same thing had -occurred in all the valleys, although Gaspard only knew what had -happened near at home. Perosa and San Martino had been treated with like -barbarity and deceit. The scenes at the rocks of Vadolin were to the -full as heart-rending as what Gaspard could describe. - -‘And thy father?’ Madeleine’s eyes asked the question which her lips -could scarcely frame. ‘Thy father, what of him?’ - -Gaspard rose to his feet and leant against the rock where the dark -cave-shadow almost hid his countenance. - -‘Ah,’ he said, ‘I have been well-nigh torn in twain betwixt my desire -to find you, to know that thou and Rénée were out of the clutches of -yon----’ - -‘Name them not, my son,’ said Madeleine; ‘hard words hurt only the heart -from which they come.’ - -‘Words? Aye, it is not with words I would meet them!’ the young man said -between his teeth. - -‘And thy father?’ - -‘He is wounded. He was thrust at with a lance when trying to defend -Marie Rozel. You remember old Marie? the widow who gave us goat’s milk -when we were lost in the hill-mist long ago, Emile and I, and -Rénée--thou wert a tiny child then, Rénée. They--well, they killed her -at last, in spite of all that my father could do.’ - -‘Where is he?’ Madeleine Botta had come close to her son and was holding -his arm. ‘Oh, Gaspard, ill, wounded as he is, surely he is not alone? -Let us go to him.’ - -‘Mother, to cross the valley, to go down by the river in broad -daylight--it is death, certain death, or worse. Nay, I will creep back -to him, and bring him word how you fare. He will revive when once he -knows that you and Rénée are safe. It was to get news for him that I am -come. But how have you lived here? Have you food? fire?’ - -So they showed him their store, the bag of rye-bread Rénée had stolen -down to Rora to fetch from a secret hiding-place; the dried grapes, the -chestnuts, the flour--which last was useless, since they dared not light -a fire; and then, stepping forward, the girl called softly once and -again. Presently two or three goats came pushing their way through the -ivy, rustling beneath the glossy leaves, and nodding their sage sharp -heads as they came. - -‘The others have been killed, I suppose,’ said Rénée sadly; ‘but these -give us milk enough and to spare.’ - -Gaspard watched her as she stroked the creatures that were pressing -against her knees. All dumb things seemed ready to love Rénée, and it -was no wonder. - -Madeleine sat silently. Her heart was full; her lips were quivering; the -iron was entering her very soul. God had required much from her--her -happy home, the quiet contentment of her failing years; then the life of -Emile, her eldest born; and now Henri, the husband of her youth, her -strong Henri, was stricken. Was his life to be taken too? - -This woman had come of a race of martyrs: she had been cradled in -terror, and reared amongst dangers and blood-spilling. She knew, none -better, what it meant to take up Christ’s cross and follow Him along the -path that leads to where the shadow lies across the shining Threshold. -Her nature was brave, as befitted a child of the hills; her soul was -filled with a high and sacred faith that had been lighted by God’s -Gospel and nourished by His grace. - -But now, there, in the cavern, the grief, the pity, the despair of it -well-nigh overcame her. - -‘O Lord, how long, how long? Must Thy people be outcasts for ever? for -ever down-trodden and slain? Canst Thou not hear in heaven Thy -dwelling-place, and when Thou hearest wilt Thou not aid?’ - -Just now, in her hour of agony and sore dismay, she was too near to pain -to see its glorious crown, too close to the shadow of death to behold -the shining gate. Not only for her and hers that crown and shining -should be, but for ever unto the uttermost ages the Church of Christ is -fairer for what then the Vaudois bore! Not a tear nor drop of martyr -blood fell then unmarked, for not only on earth but in heaven is the -death of God’s saints held ‘right dear.’ - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - - -[Illustration] - -RENEE, if God gives me life, I will return; I will return here to thee.’ - -So said Gaspard Botta as he parted from his promised wife in the cavern -on the cliff. - -He had stayed long enough to gather them a store of wood and firing. He -had even crept down in the darkness to the ruined home, and, with the -silent hunter-craft of his nation, had managed to evade the Savoy -soldiers while he loaded himself with things which he knew his mother -and Rénée must need. - -A dangerous service--yes, but existence was just one long course of -danger in those months to the Vaudois. - -Madeleine had urged him to go back to his father. She herself would -have chosen to dare all things, and go also. To stay in that cliff-cage, -hiding in silence, with no knowledge of how it fared with her nearest -and dearest, would be a terrible strain and trial; the risks of crossing -the Luserna valley and the heights of Roussina and Mount Vandalin, -watched as they were by the duke’s troops, would be as nothing compared -with the waiting and the longing for news there in the cave. - -But Gaspard, who had threaded the passes and forded the torrents swelled -with melting snows, who had doubled and dived and scrambled like the -hunted thing that he was, implored her to stay in the comparative safety -of their hiding-place. - -‘It is far to where I left him,’ he said; ‘out there below La Vachère. -And if thou didst reach him, mother, they would but tear thee from his -side. The men were driven off in gangs to Luserna, and the women----’ -He paused, and the dark look came again into his face. ‘The women were -taken too, some of them, and the little ones---- Oh, mother, be -satisfied! rest here, thou and Rénée, and if God pleases to hear my -prayer I will come again, and bring my father, should I carry him on my -shoulders.’ - -And so he left them; and for days, and yet again for days, they watched -and waited for his coming back across the torrent, and round by the -huge rocks that rose sharp and sheer from the water to the fringes of -the pines. But they waited in vain. - -And as the time wore on they saw from their point of vantage that the -soldiers had left Rora, or only scoured the land at intervals; and Rénée -ventured down from time to time to the desolated village, filling her -basket with such fruits and food that the ruthless robbers had chanced -to spare. Seeking, too, if there might be other fugitives perhaps more -helpless and terror-stricken than themselves--to whom Madeleine and she -could give a word of cheer or hand of help. - -And so the spring deepened into summer, and the skies were stainless -blue above them; and the sunlight of many blossoms shone over the grass; -the pines shook their yellow dust in clouds into the scented air; and -the brooms opened their dry seed-pods with sharp reports, as of fairy -artillery. - -It was hard to believe that only so few weeks ago human lives had been -sobbed out in agony--there in that beautiful world--and that rage and -cruelty had wrought their worst wickedness in the sacred name of Christ. - -So quiet was it, that at last the two women went back to Rora, finding -shelter amongst the ruins of what had once been their home. One or two -other hunted and bereaved ones crept back also, like them waiting for -news, hoping still in their faithful hearts that better times would -come, and those so dear to them would be delivered from the jaws of -death. - -Rénée would look wistfully northward and westward, where the great -violet peaks rose into the summer sky. Would Gaspard come that day? the -next? Deferred hope that maketh the heart sick was heavy upon her; she -longed to find her way down the valley to the outer world, and learn for -herself what had befallen. Inaction and waiting were the hardest of -trials to this girl, child of the mountain as she was. - -Patience, Rénée! The time for doing will come. The blood of heroes does -not flow uselessly in your young veins; ‘to do’ comes by nature to -hearts like yours; ‘to wait’ is a lesson taught by care Divine. - -Some stray reports penetrated even to the far recesses of this valley, -the most southern of all the Vaudois dwelling-places. Some wandering -folk would come from Vigne or Villaro, outcasts like themselves, whom -they might question. Any well-to-do traveller, any body of men, any -strangers who looked happy and well-fed, must be avoided and hidden -from, for they would certainly prove to be enemies, who considered all -the Vaudois to be under the ban of the Church, and therefore to be -driven to a Luserna prison, or hunted down and slain. - -But from one and another the story was brokenly gathered--the story of -what had chanced beyond the hills, and what sort of measure the duke had -dealt to his conquered people. - -Exile. That had been the final decree. - -The Vaudois were to be driven out; their hills should harbour heretics -no more. Once and for all Savoy should be cleared from them and their -doctrine. As Louis had purified the soil of France, so Victor Amadeus -would purge Piedmont. - -The prisons were to be emptied. The twelve thousand men, women, and -children shut up in the several fortresses must go. To Switzerland, -since the Swiss would receive them--but across the Alps, and out of the -valleys at any cost, and any whither. - -Twelve thousand? Could there really be so many? Henri Botta and his son -Gustave were amongst that great and dreary company. - -The sentence fell on the hearts of those two women like a leaden weight. - -They, too, must go to Switzerland. - -That was the resolve that grew strong in each before they dared to say -the words one to the other. They were silently counting the miles, the -mountains, the dangers that lay between them and the country where their -dear ones had been driven. And each dreaded the objections which the -other might urge. - -‘But, Rénée,’ Madeleine Botta held out her withered hands imploringly, -and her sunken eyes were moist as she spoke--‘Rénée, we must go to them, -since it may not be that they can come to us.’ - -The girl’s face shone with the swift up-leaping of the hope that was -strong in her. - -‘Yes, mother, we will go; and God will lead us safely through!’ was her -answer, spoken with the fervent simple faith that had sprung strongly up -in Vaudois hearts under that red-rain of martyr blood. - -But not yet was the ‘leading’ to come. - -[Illustration: MADELEINE AND RENEE STOPPED.] - - - - -CHAPTER V. - - -They set out, their bundles on their shoulders, walking openly in the -daylight without attempt at disguise; seeking, it is true, the less -frequented paths, and avoiding observation as much as possible. They -were so inoffensive, so insignificant, this woman and her foster-child; -surely few would notice them or hinder them--now that the bitterness of -the persecution had died down. - -Sorrowfully were they mistaken. - -They had not lost sight of the white ridge of Mount Friolent, nor -crested the pass leading toward Villaro, before they were stopped and -questioned by a band of preaching friars who were busy establishing -their churches and schools in the country whence ‘the heretics’ had been -driven. - -Madeleine’s courage rose with the first hint of danger. She had no idea -of softening or disguising anything, and answered back so dauntlessly -that Rénée’s cheeks grew white as she listened; though the girl herself -had no lack of truth nor of courage. Words are in these -nineteenth-century days little else than easily stirred air; to those -defenceless ones just then they meant all the difference betwixt life -and death. - -The friars consulted together and shook their cowled heads, looking not -unlike birds of prey gloating over some poor trapped wild thing. They -said that the women were firebrands, and far too dangerous to be allowed -to go through the land--that the duke allowed none of the so-called -Reformed religion to dwell or pass in Piedmont; and that Mistress Botta -and the girl must travel in their company to Luserna, ‘where further -decisions would be arrived at.’ - -That night the two women found means of escape. They gained the open -air, the hills, the steep and intricate ways known only to the people of -the valleys; and presently, after some days of wandering, they found -themselves once more in their cavern. The tears rolled down Rénée’s -cheeks as she entered--it was present safety, indeed, but must they -still wait there, and watch for the footsteps that might never come--for -the news which seemed further from them than ever? - -Then Madeleine fell sick. Some slow fever consumed her; and for days and -nights she lay so ill that Rénée could find no place in her thoughts for -aught but ‘mother.’ And when at last she seemed to revive somewhat, and -her wandering reason returned to her, she was so exceeding weak and -frail that the girl feared she would die from very weariness. - -It was hard to get necessaries, harder still to obtain the food fitted -for a sick woman’s needs, but Rénée never flagged nor faltered all -through that terrible time. - -She drove the straying goats from the mountain, that her mother might -have draughts of their milk; she managed to make charcoal of her store -of dry wood, and that so carefully that no volume of smoke or flame -could betray their hiding-place. She ran down to the valley for the few -bunches of grapes which might yet be left on the broken and neglected -vines; and once, but only once, she dared to enter the village of -Rumero, where she bartered her own long silver chain for a warm coverlet -for Madeleine. - -And the autumn came, and the winter. And the icicles had been hung -across their cave, and the raging winds had careered there, while the -avalanches thundered amongst the higher Alps, and the sunsets lay -crimson on the bosom of the snows. Then came the creeping warmth and the -blessing of the spring, and the sick woman revived, as did the flowers -where the sunshine made glory on the springing grass. - -Madeleine Botta rose from her rock bed almost as hale as ever, and her -voice had scarcely lost anything of its fulness when she sang that -evening hymn, the ‘Psalm of Strong Confidence.’ - -But Rénée, as the light grew longer and the sweet benediction of the -year stole over the frost-held earth, as the swollen streams leapt -laughing down amongst the flowers, and the song-birds called in music -one to the other, Rénée grew silent and sad. - -Life would be easier now. Her mother was in no danger of death or -suffering. There would be little to do up there in their cliff cave. -Little to do but to wait. - -Ah, and the waiting time is the hardest time to such hearts as that of -Rénée Janavel. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - - -Gaspard Botta was not one to be easily baffled or beaten; he was young, -with muscles of iron and thews as of steel, and he had, moreover, the -caution and resource of a hunter, the endurance and the keen eyesight of -a mountaineer. - -His faith was the faith of his fathers, and for it he would die, -readily, unshrinkingly, as his fathers died in the terrible days of the -past, and as he had himself seen his countrymen die here, in every -hamlet, and by every hearth and home. - -But of the actual love of God he knew but very little. - -He had meant to do his duty. He had prayed a soldier’s prayers, and he -had trusted that help Divine would come to him, as it had done to -others; to such men as Janavel, and Laurene, and Jayer, men who had -gloriously fought in defence of the valleys, and whose names would live -while Vaudois hearts yet beat. - -But some glimpse of a faith better than this came to him as he left his -mother and Rénée in the cave that day. - -He could not have put the feeling into words; he scarcely knew when or -why, but as he took his lonely way towards the mountains of Angrogna, a -sense of God’s presence came over him--a searching, demanding -presence--a power and a gentleness that asked, not only for his life, -but also for his love. - -There was the hoarse note of pain ringing through the valleys, the -boundless pain of desolation and distress. Why, then, should such -thoughts come to him, one of those smitten ones who had suffered, and -who yet must suffer? Gentleness--love? surely here on the south slopes -of the Alps there was in those terrible years more evidence of the -outpouring of God’s wrath! - -But into the young man’s soul there stole some glimpse of the Light that -shineth in darkness, of the Love that is behind all wrath, of the Joy -that is greater than pain. Not suddenly, but softly and sweetly, even as -the spring-time comes upon the coldness and dumbness of the -winter-world. He was only a herdsman’s son, and his carpentering trade -had left him little leisure even for such poor scholarly lore as -penetrated to the valleys, but he had heard of One who had also been an -outcast, hunted, and done to death; of One whose days were days of -suffering, and whose nights were spent in lonely watchings beneath the -stars. - -And the remembrance of that One came to him now in his own lonely vigil. -The Master who had wandered on the Syrian hills, who had stood silent -before murderous men; and in heaven, from the great white height of His -glorious throne, He yet feels for His brethren who, through great -tribulation, are pressing to His feet. - -Gaspard understood things better now. There _was_ love, and there was -gentleness, in spite of the sharpness of that cry of human pain. And -Gaspard knelt mute upon the hill-side, with a look upon his face that -had never before rested there, a look too full of love for fear, and yet -which was too near to awe to take the semblance of gladness. - -It seemed to him as though he knelt with his whole soul bare before the -glance of God. - -The days that followed were full of excitement, anxiety, and trouble. -His father had been taken to Luserna, together with all the rest of the -valley folk, and there Gaspard followed. It was rather like a lamb -searching the den of a wolf, this going into the very stronghold of the -Papists; but Gaspard had no thought of evading the duke’s troops now. -His first duty was to find his father, to tend him, if so it might be; -and to carry to him the news of the safety of those two women--news -which would go far, so Gaspard guessed, to calm the fever left by that -Savoyard lance-thrust. - -It was easy to find a way to the interior of the prison, for Gaspard had -only to declare that he too was a Vaudois when he was seized and flung -into the fortress already full to overflowing with his wretched -countrymen; and amongst that pitiful host was his father. - -The horrors of that imprisonment will never be fully known now. An old -writer says that the Vaudois perished by hundreds of hunger, thirst, and -the festering of neglected wounds. Their bread was rough and filled with -rubbish, their water was impure and insufficient. The places of the -dead--numbers dying every day--were filled with fresh prisoners; the -intense heat of summer, the throng of sick and suffering ones, and the -crowded state of every corner of the dungeons, made a mass of evil too -horrible for recital. - -Was not this harder to be borne than were the savage swords of the -soldiery, than the fighting at the barricades, than even the brutal -insults of victorious foes? For in the past there had at least been the -clear air of heaven, and the heart-stirring of struggle; now there -seemed only the blankness of noisome despair. - -What was it that Henri Botta’s parched lips were murmuring as he lay in -uneasy sleep across Gaspard’s knees? The young man bent to listen, and -the broken words he caught were of peace and of beauty, of rest for the -weary ones, of the waters of comfort, and the loving-kindness of God. - -The old herdsman’s rugged nature had also found some trace of gentleness -and love amid all this chaos of dismay. - -‘It must be that the Lord Himself is pitiful,’ thought Gaspard, ‘and He -Himself sends comfort to such as are sore stricken.’ - -Over and over again did that thought return as he watched frail women -rise triumphant above the power of pain, and men--just the rude and -untaught peasants of the hills--meeting insult with dignity, and outrage -with a smile. - -‘Be of good cheer, my children,’ said one, an aged pastor from Angrogna, -‘our Master bore shame and death for our sakes, and shall we shrink from -sharing the glory of His cross? Rather thank Him that such as we, the -simple valley-folk, are reckoned worthy to follow where He trod!’ - -They counted twelve thousand captives that were held in the vile durance -of the gaols; if it were so, death had opened the prison gates to -hundreds upon hundreds of the suffering souls, for it was but three or -four thousand men, women, and children whom the Duke of Savoy at last -set free. Did he call it ‘freedom’? - -They were free to leave Piedmont, to take their wretched lives and their -precious faith to other lands, but they were not free to return to the -valleys. Homeless exiles, ruined wanderers, they might go north or -south, east or west; but their homes on the hill-sides should know them -no more. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - - -The autumn had come, the snow already whitened the Alpine passes; soon -the glittering mantle would lie thick on all the hills, and the whirling -winds would form deep drifts, and the avalanches come thundering down, -and the passage of the Alps would be dangerous exceedingly. - -But the order came, imperious, unevadable--the Vaudois were to go. - -They would rather trust themselves to their own mountains, to the ice -and snow, than stay in those fated prisons; but disease had enfeebled -them, imprisonment and bad air had poisoned those whom death had spared. -It was a woeful company that set out upon that long and dangerous road. - -One of their own historians[A] writes thus of that terrible journey:-- - - [A] Monastier. Translated from the French. - -‘The Vaudois travelled in companies, escorted by the soldiers of the -duke. They had been promised clothing, but only a small number of -jackets and socks were served out to them. It was five o’clock - -[Illustration: EXILED.] - -in the afternoon, at Christmas-tide, when their liberation was -announced, with the addition that if they did not set out forthwith it -would be out of their power to leave at all, for the order was to be -revoked next day. Fearful of losing the chance of liberty, these -unfortunate persons, wasted by sickness, set out on their march that -very night. There were old men amongst them, worn down by sufferings as -well as by years, besides women and children of the tenderest age. That -night they marched three or four leagues through the snow, in the most -intense frost.’ - - * * * * * - -This first march cost the lives of a hundred and fifty of them. Was it -wonderful that these died? - -A few days later on at Novalèse, at the foot of Mount Cenis, a troop of -the prisoners noticed that a storm was rising on the mountain; they knew -well what mountain snow-storms were, and they begged the officer who was -in charge to let them stay at Novalèse for a while, out of pity for the -weak that were to be found in their ranks. If their request caused -delay, they said, they would not ask for food; there was less danger in -going without food than in travelling in the face of the storm. The -officer refused. The company was forced to proceed on its march, and -eighty-six sank in the drifted snow; they were the aged, the worn out, -women, and some little children. The bands that followed days after saw -the bodies lying frozen on the snow, the mothers still pressing their -children in their arms. - -Henri Botta would never have survived that journey of toil and horror, -had his son Gaspard’s arm been less strong and his heart less brave. - -Gaspard devoted himself to his father with the whole force of his silent -nature; it seemed as though his love for Rénée, pent up and baffled as -it was, sought an outlet in this older, less selfish love, and touched -it with an enthusiasm which was glorious to behold. - -No fatigue seemed to weary the young elastic frame, no privation had -power to damp the calm courage which was always ready to cheer and -brighten the dark hours of trial. - -He had made friends with one of the guards, a soldier whose people he -had known in Turin, and from him he managed to get now and then an extra -bit of bread, a blanket, and some handfuls of roasted chestnuts--poor -and pitiful provision for such a weary way, but to Henri Botta it made, -perhaps, the difference between life and death. - -Down the steep hill-passes the Vaudois came, troops of gaunt and -toil-worn men, large-eyed, weary women, and children who had already -learnt the lesson, so strange for childhood--to suffer and be silent. -Down on the shores of the Geneva lake, where the winter sun was shining -on the ripples until they flashed again like liquid diamonds. Along the -ancient roads where many an army had passed before them, but never one -so disconsolate and poor; and up to the gates of the town, whence the -citizens came hurrying with eager welcome. - -They were generous in their kindness, these people of Geneva. Not only -welcoming words, but help, food, rest, comfort were freely given to the -outcast children of the Alps. Company after company came winding down -the mountain sides, but instead of being frightened at such claims upon -their charity, the Swiss contended among themselves for the honour of -aiding these, their persecuted brethren. - -Once more we translate from the Vaudois historian, for the simple -statement is more eloquent than modern words can be:-- - - ‘Two thousand six hundred Vaudois were received within the walls of - Geneva, the feeble remnant of a population of from fourteen to - sixteen thousand. Moreover, they were either sick or worn out with - fatigue and anxiety, and but ill protected from the rigours of - winter by the old garments they had worn in prison. Some there - were whose lives ended the very moment their liberty began; these - expired between the two gates of the city, too weak to bear the - strange sense of joy. But in proportion as the wounds to be dressed - were deep, the loving-kindness of the Genevese rose high. They - contended with one another who should take home the most destitute; - if the invalids and sufferers had any difficulty in walking, men - carried them in their arms into their houses. The heavy charge to - the state and the people was cheerfully accepted. From the time - they had heard of the cruelty of Louis XIV., and of the edicts of - the Duke of Savoy, the Swiss had been preparing to offer aid; and - when they knew that the Vaudois were to be exiled, and coming to - Switzerland, these preparations were redoubled. Five thousand ells - of linen were made into garments, and an equal quantity of the - woollen stuffs of Oberland. Hundreds of pairs of shoes were laid up - in depots. The different cantons distributed the refugees amongst - them in a fixed proportion, and the liberality and compassion knew - no bounds.’ - -There was a letter written in July, 1688, signed in the name of the -Vaudois by Daniel Forneron and Jean Jalla, a letter yet existing in the -archives of Berne. ‘We have no language strong enough,’ it runs, ‘to -express our gratitude for your favours; our hearts, penetrated with all -your acts of kindness, will publish in distant parts the unbounded -charity with which you have refreshed us and supplied all our need. We -shall take care to inform our children and our children’s children, that -all our posterity may know, that, next to God, whose tender mercies have -preserved us from being entirely consumed, we are indebted to you alone -for life and liberty.’ - - * * * * * - -In Geneva, in the early days of 1688, there were aching hearts as well -as those that were joyous and thankful. It was delightful to be at rest, -to see the sun rise and set, to feel the pure air, and to wander free -beneath God’s sky. It was strangely sweet to meet together in the -churches to sing the praises of the God who had helped and delivered, to -hear His Word read in the tongue the people could understand, and know -that at last they might worship Him without fear or hindrance. - -But the pain that mingled with the gladness was very sharp. - -Husbands searched through each arriving company for the wives they had -been parted from in the days of the fighting in the valleys. Mothers -sought for their sons with hopes that grew fainter with each day that -brought refugees, indeed, but not the familiar faces they longed to see. -Parents sorrowed for their little ones who had been torn from them and -handed over to the Romish convents and schools--the children would grow -up to despise them and their religion, and in the coming time, these, -who were flesh of their flesh, would be ranked with their enemies. - -And how many lay dead, away there beyond the white peaks rising like a -giant’s rampart against the eastern sky! Dead, in the nameless -prison-graves or beneath the winding-sheet of the Alpine snows. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - - -[Illustration] - -In a Geneva street, where the steep red roofs almost met across the way, -in a tall house with a silversmith’s sign swinging above the door, lived -a Vaudois who had been exiled years ago--the hero of Rora, Joshua -Janavel. - -The coming of his countrymen stirred him as a trumpet-note might stir an -old war-horse. He could only see the glory of their trial, the martyr’s -crown given to so many, the noble endurance, the faithfulness and -steadfastness of heart which they had shown. For him to rejoice at -tribulation was no new thing, and he now stood so near to the kingdom of -God that he realised more than ever how small are the ‘sufferings of -this present time’ when compared with the glory that shall be revealed. - -His aged eyes flashed as he heard of weak women standing firm in face of -death and danger; and something of his old ardour awoke again as they -reckoned up the names of those who had fallen in a cause so holy, in -defending rights so sacred. Once only did his head droop and his voice -sink tremulous with feeling, and that was when Henri Botta came to tell -him of his grand-daughter Rénée. - -He had never seen her, this child of his best-beloved son; he had been -driven from the valleys when she was an infant. But he was strangely -moved when they told him of her sweetness, her womanly ways and words, -of the help she had been to Madeleine, and of how she had faced the -trial-storm along with the best and bravest. - -‘Our God has demanded much from me,’ he said in his thin, quavering -tones. ‘And He knows I have reckoned it as honour to spend and be spent -in His cause. I am glad, aye, doubly glad, that the girl, the last of my -race, has been ready to take up the standard of Christ, since my weak -hands can grasp it no more.’ - -Henri Botta stood in the doorway, looking down on the old man’s face, -and he silently thought that neither age nor death would quite rob the -Vaudois of Joshua Janavel; such names and memories as his linger long in -the hearts of men, and being dead, yet speak in those voices which have -far echoings. - -The time passed slowly on, the spring, the hot summer, and the scented -autumn. There was a great deal stirring in the courts of Europe, but the -people of the Cantons were busy with their own affairs, and troubled -themselves but little with the rebellion in England, or the war which -the Emperor Leopold was bent on waging with France. The fate of the -Vaudois concerned them far more nearly. - -It was only kindness, and the most active Christian charity, that moved -them to make plans for the welfare of the exiles; but the proposals -brought forward filled the Vaudois with dismay. - -It was suggested that some should be settled in Brandenburg, the -dominions of the Great Elector, on the banks of the Elbe; a country -which seemed far and foreign to the simple mountaineers. But -Brandenburg, distant as it was, was as nothing to the journeys which -others urged. The Cape of Good Hope, the unexplored lands of America, -these were mentioned as possible homes for the children of the valleys: -and the Swiss were inclined to be impatient when they saw how very -unwelcome such suggestions were. - -The plain fact was that the Vaudois were breaking their hearts with -longings for home. Every time they looked to the eastward they saw the -Alps gleaming white against the sky; the rushing of the Rhone River was -always in their ears, the water which had melted from those upper -snows--the snows of the hills. - -Here in the west there might indeed be freedom, friends, and no shadow -of fear nor pressure of want--but over there, beyond those great white -barriers, lay the land they loved, the ruined hearths for which they had -shed their blood, the fields their ancestors had tilled, the chestnuts, -and the vines, and the mulberries that their grandsires had planted, the -graves of their dear ones, the sacred spots made holy by their tears. - -The Jews of old sighed by the waters of Babylon over their silent harps: -and these poor exiles turned their yearning eyes eastward, unable to -forget their Jerusalem, the land of their inheritance. - -To Gaspard Botta in these days the hope of return was the very -mainspring of life. He worked for his living, as did all the Vaudois; he -indeed worked doubly hard, doing his father’s share as well as his own, -for the old man’s strength had never recovered that wound given on the -slope of La Vachère, and it was as much as Gaspard could do to keep him -from fretting over his uncompleted tasks. - -But all the work, hard and anxious as it was, could not entirely blunt -the pain which lay for him behind all other things, as shadows lie about -the clouds. He could not forget that Rénée was still in danger; that -whilst he had shelter, food, comfort, liberty, she and his mother were -probably yet hiding among the mountains with but little more shelter and -sustenance than God gives to the ravens. - -There had been just a chance that they too had been driven off to exile -with the rest, and Gaspard had searched with mingled hope and dread -through every group of forlorn ones arriving in Geneva. But those he -loved were not there. There was no news of them either; they had not -been amongst those who had died in prison, nor amongst those who had -perished on the journey. - -If they were still in life they were near Rora, waiting and watching, as -Gaspard knew, with weary hearts and sinking hopes for his coming back to -them. His white teeth ground themselves together as he thought of it, -and his eyes were dim with a mist of tears as he turned them towards the -hills. Was it right to stay quietly here in Switzerland, to let his -hands peaceably handle saws and planes? Was it right to let the long -days pass in peacefulness when his nearest and dearest needed help so -sorely? - -He could scarcely hold himself back as he looked at the hills. Surely, -his faithful heart kept saying, surely he could reach them, surely he -could die with them, if the worst must come. - -Not Gaspard only, but the whole company of the banished felt bitter -longings and heart-sick yearnings drawing them towards Piedmont, as the -magnet draws the steel. Their devotedness, strengthened as it had been -by centuries of persecution, nourished their patriotism; they had -suffered much for the love of God--they reckoned it now but a small -thing to suffer for love of their country. - -As the days crept on the longing grew. It was not that they were -ungrateful; it was not that they did not prize the calm that had -succeeded the struggle, the liberty that had come after the bitter -oppression--but their simple hearts just drooped and pined for the -valleys. - -They had watered that land with their tears and with their blood. No -other country could be ‘home’ to them. They must return, and lift -again--if such were God’s good will--the voice of praise and prayer from -the glens and the hills which now lay desolate. - -Men with the same anxiety in their hearts as Gaspard had might be -reckoned by the score. There was scarcely a Vaudois who would not have -willingly died rather than have surrendered the hope of getting home to -the valleys, somehow, some day. - -[Illustration: JANAVEL AND THE EXILES IN GENEVA.] - -In the silversmith’s house in the dark Geneva street, groups gathered -evening after evening to talk with Janavel. He was, as was natural, a -sort of rallying-point for his countrymen. His elbow-chair was the -centre of elaborate plannings, fluctuating hopes and fears, and -audacious ideas. Here differing ways and means were discussed endlessly; -here all men spoke their minds. - -And Janavel, who himself could never again strike a blow for country or -for faith, was the most eager and hopeful of all. - -‘Our land is the Lord’s,’ he would say; ‘and in the Lord’s good time it -shall be restored to our trust.’ - - * * * * * - -It was in July, 1687, that the first attempt at return was made. Two or -three hundred impatient ones gathered at Ouchy, on the shores of the -lake, full of ardour and hope. But that enterprise was promptly nipped -in the bud. The Swiss had pledged their honour to the Duke of Savoy, and -considered themselves responsible for the good behaviour of the Vaudois. -They could not allow the exiles to cross the frontier with the avowed -intention of regaining their country by force of arms, so the expedition -was stopped at its very outsetting, and the two or three hundred men -sent back to the places from whence they had gathered themselves. So the -first effort, small and ill-advised as it was, came to an untimely end. - -On the next occasion things were altered. Events marched quickly in -those troublous times. In July, 1687, James II. was on the English -throne, a bigoted Papist, whose sympathies were all with the -extermination of what he called heresy. And in 1687 Louis of France had -ample leisure to listen to all priestly plans for crushing the ‘new -religion.’ - -In 1689 William of Orange was King of England, a prince wholly devoted -to the cause of Protestantism, and King Louis had his hands full to -overflowing with wars against the Germans and the Dutch. - -And--a fact more important to them than affairs of foreign kings and -potentates--the exiles had found what they had hitherto so sorely -lacked--a leader. He was one Henri Arnaud, a simple pastor of the -valleys, a man trained in the school of hardship, just one of -themselves. But he was, in spite of this, a really great man, one not -only like Joshua Janavel, but like that other and far greater Joshua, -the Hebrew captain of old; for in his heart burnt the holy fire of God’s -faith and fear, and on his lips was the old battle-cry of the Hebrews, -‘Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou -dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.’ - -It is said that events shape the characters of men rather than men shape -the events. If ever this be true, it was the case with Henri Arnaud. His -character was the outcome of that hard struggle for existence that had -made the Vaudois what they were. Past years of oppression and -blood-shedding had nerved his heart and armed his hand; and the purity -of the truth for which he and his had suffered had sunk into his soul as -the sun’s warmth penetrates the surface of the earth. - -The Vaudois were as sheep having no shepherd. That very need was a spur -to Arnaud. He stood forth, and with one voice they hailed him as their -captain. Reverently, and in God’s strength, he accepted the trust. - -[Illustration] - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - - -Arnaud’s first care was to gather up the scattered threads of the -Vaudois powers, and to unite them, as far as might be, into one cord--a -cord which should be firm enough to hold out against the sharp tension -that must come. - -He had himself been to Holland to confer with William of Orange, the -hope of the Protestant world. To him he had unfolded the Waldenses’ -darling project, a project that seemed wild and hopeless enough when put -into words. But Dutch William’s soldierly heart warmed as he listened, -and for once he threw his diplomatic caution to the winds, as he said: -‘Try it, and may God prosper you! If events that I foresee come -straightly off the reel, I may be presently in a position to give you -aid, a better position than I have now. Go on! trust in yourselves, and -trust in God!’ - -Arnaud recalled those concluding words many and many a time in the -months that followed. It would not be timorous and divided hearts that -would win the end they held in view; it must be brotherly trust in one -another, devoted trust in their fathers’ God, that alone could lift them -on victoriously. - -It was on the 16th of August, 1689, that the rendezvous was fixed on the -wooded shores of the upper lake. The summer foliage was thick upon the -forest, dense enough to hide the bands of men who came trooping there -from all parts of Switzerland. They had to avoid the eyes not only of -enemies, but of friends; the magistrates of Chillon and Aigle and Nyon -were all on the watch to stop the passage of the Vaudois, as they had -stopped the former attempt; but so quietly did they gather, so -carefully did they keep their counsel, that the deep woods sheltered -more than nine hundred men before the sun went down that day, and that -without any suspicion having been excited amongst the Swiss. - -Nine hundred men; a small army to attempt the conquest of the valleys, -where the soldiers of Savoy were holding the passes, the bridges, and -the forts. Undisciplined and ill-armed they were, without stores or -means of transport, and without money. Well they knew the dangers that -were before them, the privations and fatigues, the scorching heat of the -low-lying lands, the bitter snows of the mountains; but in all that -crowd of resolute men there was not one who quailed or shrunk. - -‘Father,’ said Gaspard, standing by the old man’s side and watching the -rugged face wistfully as he spoke, ‘Father, wilt thou not abide here, -and let me strike thy blow as well as mine own? This arm is surely -strong enough; and the thought of thee here, and my mother and Rénée -yonder, will nerve it to double strength. Can it not be so? Wilt thou -not return in peace to Geneva?’ - -Henri Botta shook his head; his words were few at any time, fewest when -deeply moved. - -‘Nay,’ he said; ‘the sons of the Vaudois are but a remnant now, each -hand must do its best. Our cause is just. As Israel of old seized sword -and buckler to keep hold of the land the Lord had given, so we will -fight for the land where our fathers held high the standard of the truth -which is in Christ Jesus, the land which is our rightful heritage.’ - -Gaspard would have urged his point yet further, but the old man would -not hear; and in his heart the son knew how impossible it was -that Henri should stay at Geneva, feebly trying in loneliness and -longing-heartedness to accomplish the task that should earn his daily -sustenance. The worn-out body would flag and utterly fail if he were -left behind while the rest marched out to regain, if so it might be, -their fatherland. And yet, worn and aged as he was, how was he to battle -through the dangers that lay before Arnaud and his band? - -The sun set; the sweet summer night was silent and serene; the water -lapped the flowering rushes and broke in ripples against the rocky -shore; a star or two shone in the gleaming sky, and beyond the far -horizon-line the shimmer of moonlight was creeping up the east. - -The men stood in groups among the trees, strange thoughts thronging -about their hearts--a solemn sense of present peril, and eager longings -to take the first step of their great enterprise; but they stood quietly -for the most part. Such times as these are not times for talk, and the -trouble-trained Vaudois had learned to possess their souls in silence. - -It was two hours from midnight; presently a voice broke over the -stillness--it was the leader, Arnaud, and his words were words of -prayer. Kneeling there in the shadow of the trees, his eyes lifted to -that growing eastern radiance, he poured out his pleadings--he asked for -Divine help where other help was small and scant; for Divine guidance -where a guiding hand would be so sorely needed; for Divine strength to -fill the failing hands and brace the feeble knees. ‘Thou hast helped our -fathers throughout the long ages, O God of our hope! help us still, -according to Thine ancient promises. Be favourable to the simple and the -needy, and preserve the souls of the poor; that our tongues may talk of -Thy righteousness, and the mountains bring peace to Thy people!’ - -Gaspard heard the deep tones of his father’s ‘Amen.’ The old man’s face -showed sharp against the gleam of the sky, and upon it was a look that -silenced Gaspard’s fears. Henri Botta was asking for the strength that -is greater than all human powers, the strength that is never denied. One -sharp pang shot through Gaspard’s heart, and then the bitterness of his -anxiety was gone for ever. Failure, death itself might be before them; -but he felt, he knew, that God would care for His aged servant, and lift -him safely to the shores of that country where the nations shall be -healed. - -Across the still stretches of the Geneva water, over the sleeping lake -into the shadow of the further shores; then, landing on the Savoy side, -and marshalling their ranks in such brave battle-front as they could -show, these nine hundred men began their march. - -Their historian[B] says: ‘They were a small company to attack Savoy--a -company, on the other hand, far too numerous for the slender means of -sustenance to be found in the by-places through which they intended to -go; an untrained assemblage formed of persons of every age, hardened, it -is true, by toil, but yet strangers to military discipline and -manœuvres. What would become of them as they pressed on, forcing -their way against an armed resistance, through inhospitable tracts and -deep defiles, by the sides of precipices, and over rocks crowned with -eternal snow? Now alone on the strand of the lake they have just -crossed, they tread on the soil they are about to bathe with their sweat -and their blood. No illusion deceives them; the hard reality, with its -dangers and privations, is before their eyes, stern as the truth. But no -one draws back. The prize of the conflict seems to them worthy of the -highest sacrifices; it is a terrestrial home, to the recollection of -which they have attached their faith and hope of salvation in Christ -Jesus. In setting out, sword in hand, to reconquer it their hearts are -at ease, for their cause is just.... They desire to remain under the -observation of God, the righteous Judge, and beneath His holy -protection. They hope to repeat on their march, and in every encounter, -“Jehovah is our Banner.” ’ - - [B] Antoine Monastier. - - * * * * * - -The blessed summer-time brought beauty once more to the valleys. The -flowers shone again in the deserted gardens, and the garlanded leaves of -vines hid the breaches in the shattered walls of Rora. - -Madeleine Botta came of sturdy mountain race, and her vigour came again -to her with the throbbing, teeming life of the summer world. It was -Rénée now whose strength flagged, Rénée whose eyes were lustreless, and -whose footsteps were slow. - -The months, long weary months, had told on her courage and broken her -spirit; it was in the spring of 1687 when the thunderbolt of desolation -had fallen on her home, when the house-master and Emile and her own -Gaspard had gone out to keep the barricades. It was high summer-time -when Gaspard had crept away from their cave shelter, and she had dashed -the tears from her eyes, that her vision might hold him, clear and -unbedimmed, until he had turned that sharp angle of rock where the -broken bridge lay damming up the stream. It was again the summer when -Madeleine lay so nigh to death, and she, in lowliness and sore distress, -fought with the fever that threatened to rob her of her ‘mother.’ - -And now again it was summer-time. Was the brightness but empty mockery? -Was the sunshine to gladden all the world save the homes of the Vaudois, -and the heart of Rénée Janavel? - -Madeleine watched her in silence. She knew something, and guessed more, -of this heart-sickness that weighed upon the girl’s elastic nature until -her Rénée seemed as limp and nerveless as one of the unpropped vines in -yonder ravaged valley. She did not sympathise nor seek by word of -counsel to probe or heal the hurt. She waited with the trustful patience -that was part of her character until her spoken sympathy could be -followed out by help. - -Some semblance of peace had come to the country-side; the professors of -the ‘new religion’ had been driven out with sword and with fire: and -there must needs be cessation of persecution when none are left to be -persecuted. Even such refugees and stragglers as had hidden in the -mountains had mostly perished or been seized ere this, and even the -priests and preaching friars were content with their finished work, and -let their energy in heretic-hunting slacken down. - -Madeleine and Rénée ventured occasionally into the empty villages, and -walked abroad upon the upper slopes, even by daylight. There were some -cottagers dwelling on the foot-road to Casiana, who, although Romanists, -were as friendly as they dared to be; and from them Madeleine now and -then heard stray scraps of intelligence; she had been kind to them in -years gone by, and even the fury of the death-decrees that had desolated -the valleys had not quite extinguished their memories of gratitude. - -Indeed, during the last winter they had given more than kind -words--many a great cake of black-bread, many a bag of chestnuts and -handful of barley-meal had found its way to the refuge on the cliff; and -when the two women had expostulated they would be told that it was but -part of the produce of their own lands, which had been divided amongst -the Catholics by the duke. ‘And,’ the kindly words would finish with, -‘and, if you are so very particular, Henri and Gaspard shall pay us for -all when they come back again.’ - -But Rénée shuddered when she heard that: she had hoped for long and -long, but now her hope was dead. Neither the house-master nor Gaspard -would ever come back!--so she believed, in her dreary despair. - -In the long June days Madeleine heard news which made her decide on -trying to light again the dead hope in Rénée’s heart. Some rumours of -what was happening in the great centres of life, in Paris, and Vienna, -and Turin, penetrated as far as Luserna, and echoes reached the friendly -cottage on the Casina road, and finally were heard by Madeleine. - -Savoy was stripped of troops; the duke had need of all his soldiers in -Piedmont; the King of France was fighting with the emperor and the -Dutch; and the Vaudois were massed in the cantons of Switzerland, -looking with longing eyes at the hill-ranges of their native land. - -‘Child,’ said Madeleine, ‘once, long months ago, you spoke of creeping -away to the Swiss country, to live in security where God has granted -freedom to serve Him unchidden. Do you remember, dear? and how I felt I -could not face the weary journey, nor bear to see you go alone? And---- -’ - -‘Mother!’--the interruption came with a flash of the girl’s old -spirit--‘mother! would it be possible for me to have left you?’ - -‘Dear child! but there is now no question of leaving me--we will go -together, Rénée; and it may be we shall find our dear ones yonder; and -God’s sun shall shine upon my eventide in those blessed lands where -there is yet the daylight of His truth.’ - -[Illustration: BREAD FOR THE WAYFARERS.] - - - - -CHAPTER X. - - -Two women walking northward through the quiet air of the summer-time, -carrying modest bundles on their shoulders, their arms laden with -osier-baskets, which they offered in exchange for a bit of bread or a -night’s lodging, were not travellers likely to awaken remark or -cupidity. Madeleine Botta and her foster-child traversed the Luserna -valley unmolested. The hue and cry after the heretics had died -away--perhaps even a reaction had set in, and there might be pity -mingled with any suspicions that the Papist peasants entertained as the -two passed by. - -There was a garrison at the town of Luserna, and large monasteries -established at La Torre and Bobbio. But these places were easily -avoided, the travellers entering only the most retired hamlets and -hill-side cottages when seeking a market for their wares, and, unless in -want of food, keeping as far as possible from all human haunts. Though -immediate danger seemed afar off, they had suffered too bitterly not to -be cautious. - -The planning and the caution were mostly left to Madeleine, for Rénée -still looked round her with indifferent eyes, and seemed too hopeless, -too miserable to care whether they ever reached Switzerland or not. She -walked by her foster-mother’s side, gentle, indeed, and sweet and -bidable, but unlike the gay girl whom Gaspard had wooed before the fury -of this last persecution had burst upon Savoy. - -One evening, it was the 29th of August, the travellers halted on the -slopes of the Giuliano Pass. They had come through Armatier, and up the -banks of the torrent that runs down to Bobbio from the mighty -glacier-skirts of Mount Cournan. They were weary, for the day’s march -had been unusually long. - -They had taken shelter in a cottage--deserted as so many Piedmont -cottages were in those sad years--and Madeleine, folding her cloak -about her, lay down to rest. - -Rénée stood by the doorway; the broken hinges told their tale of -forcible entry; the few rude articles of furniture were broken likewise; -the feet of the spoiler had entered here, and that not so very long ago, -judging from the splinters of the fir-wood which showed white in the -gathering shadow. - -The girl’s eyes were fixed on the snowy dome of the great mountain which -shone to the northward in a radiance and purity which might almost befit -the hills of heaven, round its feet soft mist, as of opal and of pearl, -floated in streaming trails and wreaths. And beyond it the clear sky was -fair and stainless in its immensity of blue; one glittering point of -sharp silver trembled above--the first shy star of the summer night. - -‘Rénée,’ Madeleine called to her in tones which were full of love--of -yearning love that longed to help her child. ‘Rénée, of what thinkest -thou now in the evening silence? Of the difficult ways we have trodden? -or of those we yet must tread? Shall our prayer to our Father this night -begin with thankfulness? or with pleading for yet more of His help? Come -here to me, Rénée, and let me hear thy voice.’ - -The girl turned and came to her side. The listless mood had lifted, and -there was a sense of surpressed emotion in her gait, in her voice, and -her very hands, as she stretched them out to Madeleine. - -‘Is there ever an answer, mother?’ she said. - -‘An answer?’ - -‘Aye, to these prayers of ours? And to all the sighs and burden of -prayer that has gone up from the valleys these centuries past? Does He -hear us at all, our God? or are the places of His dominion too wide for -Him to have thought to spare for the narrow shelters where the Vaudois -have tried to hide from the spoiler and oppressor? Look there, mother! -see where the head of that mountain lifts itself into the skies; it is -the same, always the same, silent and cold and cruel, though our -forefathers were hunted across its ridges in the past years, and we are -now creeping wearily towards its feet. It cares nothing. It smiles in -the sun or it frowns in the tempest, and heeds not Savoyard, nor -Frenchman, nor Vaudois! Mother, is it not like this Power that we -implore?--this Power that is deaf to our cries--indifferent, though we -His servants are dying here on His earth?’ - -There was no reply to this outpouring of long pent-up emotion. Madeleine -drew the girl’s figure close to her side, and laid her forehead against -the throbbing breast. A faint wind sighed amongst the pine boughs, and -a far-off rustle and dull roll told of the passage of a distant -avalanche. Rénée shivered. - -‘Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him,’ repeated Madeleine, the -fervent words coming distinct and brave, although her lips were -trembling. - -[Illustration: A VISION OF THE MOUNTAINS--‘COLD AND CRUEL.’] - -‘It is through suffering that we must follow our Lord,’ she went on, -after a long pause. ‘He refused the kingdoms of this world and the glory -of them, and chose to wander homeless, and to die in shame. O child, -thou hast lost much, and even yet more may be asked of thee--home and -dear ones are gone; food, raiment, life itself may be wrenched -away--but, Rénée, do not give up thy faith!--thy faith in the rest that -remaineth for the Vaudois--thy faith in thy Saviour, who loveth even -thee and me!’ - -The girl was weeping. Not the burning tears of a passionate despair, but -the blessed drops that ease the heart from whence they flow. Into her -soul there came some faint fair imagining of the meaning of it all--this -trial and torture, this desolation and weariness of waiting. Just such a -glimpse as had come to Gaspard when he knelt alone on Mount Vadolin came -now to her. Life, and the wreck of such riches as life had held for her, -was small indeed compared with this higher weal and wealth--the -unsearchable riches of Christ. - -And, presently, when the purple shade crept over the gleaming snows of -the upper pass, and even the mountain’s mighty brow was shadowed--two -voices sang the ‘Psalm of Strong Confidence,’ albeit the notes fell -quaveringly, and the words were mingled with the echoes of sobs. - - ‘The earth trembled and was still, when God arose - To help the meek upon the earth. - Then the fierceness of man shall be turned to His praise, - And the fierceness of the violent shall be restrained.’ - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -[Illustration] - - -The Vaudois troops (if the word ‘troops’ can be applied to the nine -hundred followers of Henri Arnaud) crossed Lake Leman on the 18th of -August, and at once pressed southwards through La Chablais and Faucigny. - -They were already on the enemy’s ground, or rather in the dominions of -the Duke of Savoy, but their own country lay beyond the huge shoulders -of Mont Blanc and Mont Cenis; and they had many weary leagues to win -before they could look upon their enterprise as fairly begun. They had -no - -[Illustration: SKETCH MAP OF THE WALDENSIAN VALLEYS.] - -quarrel with the towns of Upper Savoy; all they asked was free passage, -and to be allowed to purchase food--a demand not always granted. - -At Boëge they met with the first resistance; and here Arnaud made his -first stroke of generalship. He seized several gentlemen as hostages, -and made one of them write letters to the mayors of the towns of Vin, -St. Joyre, and Cluse, to the effect that the Vaudois ‘had requested -hostages to accompany them, to give an account of their conduct, which -should be in all respects honest and regular; that they wished to pay -for everything they demanded, and to go peaceably on their way.’ The -mayors were advised ‘not to sound the tocsin nor to alarm the country, -and to withdraw their people, if they were already under arms.’ - -These letters, signed by all the hostages, names well known and honoured -in Savoy, had an excellent effect; and the little army pressed on up the -Valley of the Arve, to gain, if possible, the Bridge of Sallenches, -before the news of their approach could give opportunity for it to be -fortified against them. - -Just as they came down the Maglan road, they saw a horseman galloping -towards the town to give the alarm. Sallenches being the chief town of -Faucigny, there, if anywhere, their passage would be disputed, and it -was of the utmost importance to make what speed they might, that the -town might be taken unawares. - -Within a hundred paces of the great wooden bridge they halted, putting -themselves in their best battle-array. A regular army corps might have -smiled to see their uneven ranks, their curious collection of weapons, -their queer attempts at soldierly equipment. But a second glance at -those lines of steadfast faces, a further thought of what those steady -eyes, those firm lips, and eager looks must mean, would have put an end -to smiling. The nine hundred men drawn up before the Bridge of -Sallenches were no fitting mark for scoffing--so much at least was -certain. The townsmen hoped to gain time by parleying. They sent -deputies and messengers; and meanwhile were getting the guard under -arms. - -Arnaud divined the meaning of their delay. He looked carefully at the -bridge, laden as it was with houses, and flanked by towers which in -half-an-hour would be filled with soldiers. He looked along the ranks of -his men. _He_ could read the meaning of those steadfast faces! The word -was given. There was a rush forward. Swift and silent--the mountaineers -had crossed the bridge. Sallenches was won. - -The passage of Sallenches, rather, for they dared not loiter in the -town. They hurried on to Cablau, where, weary and hungry, and soaked -with the heavy rain, they laid down to rest. But they raised thankful -hearts in gratitude to God that night. - -The chronicler of their journey writes: ‘These poor people blessed God -that they had marched so far successfully, without fighting or loss of -men, over bridges and through defiles where a few courageous defenders -could have done them irreparable injury, and they were grateful for a -peaceful night after so much fatigue and anxiety. Rest was very -necessary, for they were about to face difficulties of which the -prospect might have shaken the courage of persons quite unfatigued and -free from anxiety; how much more men who for a number of days and nights -had known no rest or sleep but what they could enjoy during their brief -halts, not to mention the mental disquietude which scarcely allowed them -to close their eyes! Now they had reached the foot of the most gigantic -of the Alps, whose heads are hoary with eternal snows, and whose -precipitous sides are scored by a few perilous paths by which no -traveller can come without danger. The Vaudois had to traverse the -forests of the lower grounds, to clamber rocks surmounted with silver -snows, hollowed out with dazzling glaciers and torrent waterfalls; they -came not into this sublime scenery to admire the works of God, but to -shun men and cities, to breathe free air--as did the chamois bounding on -the heights above them, or the eagle that soared over their heads. They -had to cross numerous spurs and ranges of the hills, lateral branches of -the principal chain; to do this it was necessary to climb from the -bottom of one valley, only to descend again into the next. Often they -could find nothing to maintain them but milk and cheese and the frozen -water of the mountains. The rain frequently beat upon their backs, bent -with fatigue; and their suffering feet slipped upon the stones and in -the stony ravines. Late at night they would perhaps reach shepherds’ -huts, barren and cold, where they would make fires by unroofing the -hovels for fuel; a plan that warmed them indeed, but exposed them to the -fury of the elements. And this was their daily experience for eight -days. But Arnaud, the zealous and renowned leader of the little troop, -restored, by his holy and excellent exhortations, the courage of those -who followed him. He spared himself least of all. His foot took the most -difficult path, his platter was the last to be filled. And in the -morning and at the night-falling he, in the name of his little flock, -asked for them the strength and confidence of God.’ - -Such were the first steps of the ‘Glorious Return.’ - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - - -The Vaudois had lived from generation to generation a life described by -a modern writer as one of absolute seclusion, ‘without thought or -forethought of foreign help or parsimonious store;’ drinking draughts -from their own grape-clusters and saving of last year’s harvest only -seed enough for the next. They had the serenity given them by God and by -Nature, with thanks for the good and submission for the evil; they -persisted through better and worse in their fathers’ ways, in the use of -their fathers’ tools, and in holding to their fathers’ fields as -faithfully as the trees to their roots or the lichens to their rocks. - -It was this simplicity, this serenity, and persistency, that carried -them forward now. A regular army would have been hampered by a hundred -needs and cares and strategies. Arnaud and his men went from Nyon to -Sallenches, from Mont Blanc to Mont Cenis, from the Arve to the Doire, -stepping forward with the confidence of children and the ‘foolishness’ -of the saints. - -Some opposition they had already overcome. They avoided the French -garrison of Exilles, but they could not avoid the Marquis de Larrey, who -with two thousand five hundred soldiers kept the passage of the Doire at -Salabertrand. - -They had hurried past Exilles, hoping to win this bridge as they had won -the bridge over the Arve, but the night was falling as they came within -sight of the place, and they were forced to halt at a village to snatch -rest and a meal. They asked if they could buy bread. The answer, -significantly spoken, sounded threatening. - -‘Come on to the river, you will get there all you want; they are -preparing excellent suppers for you.’ - -It was Gaspard Botta to whom those words were said, and he reported them -at once to Arnaud. The chief shared his fears as to what they might -mean, but there was no room for hesitation in Arnaud’s heart. He -gathered his men for the usual evening prayer; perhaps his words were -more intensely fervent, higher in their note of faith than they had been -before, and the ‘Amen’ that rose from the tightened bearded lips was fit -echo to such petitions. - -The darkness was lying on the world unbroken by moon or star; only the -snow-gleam and the pale line below the western clouds gave light enough -to see the strongly-rushing river, white here and there with broken -water, and the dark span of the wooden arches stemming the torrent. - -The tramp of their feet provoked the sharp challenge-- - -‘Who goes there?’ - -‘Friends,’ cried Arnaud; ‘all we ask is----’ - -But the answer came in a tempest of bullets, and wild cries of ‘Kill! -kill!’ The mountaineers flung themselves on their faces, and the deadly -hail flew almost harmless above their heads. Then when the French -muskets were empty Arnaud dashed on. - -‘Courage,’ he called. ‘Forward, Vaudois! the bridge is won!’ - -And it was even so! The fierce onslaught of the desperate men confused -and shattered the enemy’s lines. Ten or twelve wounded, fourteen or -fifteen killed, was the Vaudois loss--and their gain was the passage of -the Doire, the open door to their valleys! - -The French had fled. The town was at the mercy of its captors. They -seized what military stores they needed, and blew up what ammunition -they could not carry away. They did sup well that night; the threat had -turned to a prophecy. - -The next day they reached the summit of the mountain of Sci. It is a -high crest overlooking the Valley of Clusone, fearful enough when -howling with the gales of winter and dark with the shadow of -snow-clouds; but to-day the sun bathed it in warm light, and the sky -shone over it, fair as a shield of silver. Arnaud halted his army there -on the brow, and silently pointed to the scene before them. - -There were the well-known landmarks; there the sharp horizon-line of -their own mountains, the hills of their native land. Before their eyes -it lay, bright in the sunshine, the country of the Vaudois--the home for -which they had hungered--the land for which they had longed. The very -wind as it blew from off it seemed charged as with breath of blessing. - -They knelt reverently, with one accord, lifting moist eyes to the blue -sky-depths, while Arnaud, their captain and their minister, poured out -thanksgiving and praise for the help that had brought them thus far. -‘The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad. Turn again -our captivity, O Lord, that they that sow in tears may reap in joy. -Though we walk in the midst of trouble, Thou wilt revive us. Thou shalt -stretch forth Thine hand against the wrath of our enemies, and Thy right -hand shall save us.’ - -Those Hebrew psalms came to their lips in the day of toil and -suffering, and they come still to all Christian souls, fitting all -needs, singing as they do of human sins and failures, of Divine -forgiveness, and God’s triumphant glory; they stir the innermost hearts -of men as they echo down through the ages, as true and real now as when -first sung by the sweet singers of Israel. - -Each day increased the difficulties gathering about the devoted band. -The news of their approach had reached Piedmont, and troops were on the -alert to intercept their march. The valleys were not to be gained -without a deadly struggle; and Arnaud knew it. - -Eleven days after leaving Geneva they set foot in the first Vaudois -village, Balsille, in the Vale of St. Martino. It was empty; the new -inhabitants had fled down the river-bank towards Le Perrier, where a -strong force of Piedmontese soldiers were forming across the valley. - -But the Vaudois avoided the force they could scarcely hope to defeat. -Arnaud turned to the south-westward, up the gorge of Prali, intending to -reach the Valley of Luserna by the Guliano Pass, leaving Le Perrier and -its garrison on his left. - -There was utter peace up this mountain valley, the peace of the great -hills in the warmth and hush of the summer. The church--the ‘Temple of -Prals, as they had used to call it--was still standing; it had been -transformed into a place for Romish worship, but the white walls raised -by Vaudois hands were there, and the roof-tree that had echoed to the -people’s prayers for generations. - -Henri Botta bared his head as he entered it. He gave small heed to the -movements and exclamations of his comrades, who were sternly removing -all superstitious ornaments and popish adornments; his heart had gone -back to the old days when he had come here from Rora to woo Madeleine, -who had lived in yonder farm-stead all her girlish years--one could see -it yet, the broken gable rising sharp above the tufted chestnut grove; -and there in that humble cottage by the foot-bridge, the heroic pastor -Leydat had lived--Leydat, who had been martyred in 1686, seized while -singing psalms with his hunted flock in a cave below the mighty crest of -Mont Cournan. Henri Botta almost thought he could yet hear his -well-known voice as he read from the great Bible chained on the desk by -the further arch; a voice easily to be held in memory, with its deep -cadences and rolling utterance. - -Leydat was dead--blessedly dead among God’s saints in God’s keeping; the -farm-stead was wrecked; the great Bible and its clasps torn away--and -Madeleine--who could say what had befallen her since they parted at the -entrenchments across the Rora Valley? How long ago it seemed! - -[Illustration: THE CHAINED BIBLE.] - -And the house-master held his own withered hand before his eyes, gazing -at it curiously, evidence as it was of his age and infirmity. Such a -shaking, knotted, feeble old hand! A marvel, is it not, that one so aged -and broken as he should have managed to live through the days of their -daring march hence from Switzerland? - -‘God has been my helper,’ he murmured. ‘He, and His gift to me, my boy -Gaspard.’ - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - - -Botta could see Gaspard from where he stood, and his eyes kindled and -grew luminous as he watched the athletic figure bending under its load -of forage. The young carpenter had proved himself good metal, and -Arnaud--one of whose many gifts it was to judge men’s qualities swiftly -and justly--had advanced him from the ranks to a place of trust about -his own person. There was not a man in his whole troop that he trusted -more fully than Botta’s son, Gaspard. - -‘This was your mother’s home,’ said the house-master, later that -evening, when he and Gaspard had withdrawn themselves a little from the -rest, and climbed the steep bank which swept up from the hill-torrent to -the bastion of rock that kept watch and ward above. ‘Your mother’s home. -Here I saw her first, binding rye in those fields--the grey and silver -rye. I never see it now but I think of that day in autumn, two and -thirty years ago. Two and thirty years--a long time, Gaspard, to you, -for it is more than your whole life; but to me it seems but a handful -of days, few and evil, like those of Jacob. Two and thirty years!’ - -‘There are other measurements than hours and weeks,’ returned the young -man slowly; ‘I have learned that. How long is it since we crossed the -mountains into Switzerland? They count our exile as a score or two of -months, to me it is a very lifetime.’ - -‘His day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years in His sight but -as a day,’ returned Henri Botta, whose slower mind had not grasped the -inner meaning of his son’s words. - -‘And,’ Gaspard went on, ‘there are the small things we give our lives to -grasp, and the great things we have not eyes to see. Will God judge us -for our foolishness, and punish us for our blindness in the day of the -account?’ - -‘He bids us ask for wisdom, Gaspard, and He has promised us the light.’ - -Still he did not follow the workings of his son’s mind, but he added: - -‘God understandeth our frame, and remembereth that we are but dust. If -His heaven is high and far above us, His Son came here that in all -things _He_ might understand.’ - -The young man did not answer. He was thinking of that day on the -Angrogna hill when first he caught an inkling of the truth that the life -is more than meat, and the body than raiment--that day when it was first -given him to see that God’s stroke, falling as sharp pain, is yet His -Hand of Love. - - * * * * * - -It was but little that they seemed able to effect, this handful of men -marching across the confines of their native land; their bivouac fires -were few and feeble on that summer night in the Prali fields; and Henri -Botta’s white hairs and Gaspard’s ill-armed hands showed as poor samples -of the stuff of which Arnaud’s army was made. Yet, judged by wider -measurements, they were not ignoble, nor was their effort mean. These -men of the Vaudois were holding forth to the world the spectacle of -reverent faith in the promises of their God. They trusted in Him, and -they believed that that fervent trust would never be confounded. - -As the notes of Madeleine’s evening psalm died down on the hill-side, a -figure raised itself from behind a jutting crag and crept stealthily off -in the darkness. The two women, well used to the desolate mountains, -slept serene and safe in the hut. Rénée’s head rested on her -foster-mother’s arm, and over the sweet flower-like face there was -spread the reflection of the peace that passeth understanding. The evil -mood that had tried her faith was gone, and in its place had come the -nameless Light that shines from the Spirit of Comfort. She was dreaming, -not of Gaspard, nor of happy days past or come, but of her -Mother-Madeleine and her ‘Psalm of Confidence.’ - -Yet all about that ruined hut were cruel and violent men, the hired -soldiery of the duke. Men little better than brigands, who had been sent -expressly upon work of rapine and slaughter, that a ‘strong hand’ might -crush the Vaudois now and for ever. - -The singing had roused the attention of the outpost of the troops that -had been thrown forward to keep the Giuliano Pass. A soldier had crept -forward to reconnoitre the advance of Arnaud, and his men had made the -Savoyards cautious, and the sound of a Huguenot hymn might mean serious -mischief. But the alarm died away in a brutal scoff, when the scout -brought news that it was no meeting of heretics, no vanguard of the -Vaudois army, but an aged woman and a young girl singing themselves to -sleep under the shattered roof of a herdsman’s hut. - -‘Leave them in peace,’ ordered the captain, an old soldier, who was -weary from his forced march, and who wished for undisturbed repose. ‘If -those two hundred hounds of mine start such a quarry, there will be no -quiet for hours. So hold thy tongue an thou canst, Antoine, and go back -to thy post. Dost hear? It is well.’ - -But when the sun had climbed the morning sky, and the scented tassels of -the pines were swaying to the breeze stealing from the snow-fields, when -the soldiers had shaken off their slumbers and were clamouring for their -morning meal, they might do what they pleased with such trifles as a -couple of defenceless women, for all their captain cared. - -There were, as he said, but two hundred of them; but half that number -might hold the Giuliano Pass; the Vaudois were marching southwards by -Rodoret and Prali, as the duke’s troops were all aware. What mattered -it? Arnaud and his horde of fanatics might beat themselves to pieces -against the swords of the soldiers without risk or loss to that two -hundred, so wonderfully did the rocks stand round the forge, an -entrenchment and barrier stronger than mortal hands could build, a -fastness which neither Arnaud nor his mountaineers could force. - -The captain laughed as he glanced up at the cliffs towering towards the -snows. Ah, yes! it would be strange indeed if his two hundred could not -hold the Giuliano Pass against greater odds than Arnaud was likely to -bring. - -When at peep of day rude hands flung open the hut door, and ruder voices -called across the empty space, there fell a brief silence of surprise -upon the group of men. The hut was vacant: the quarry had fled. - -[Illustration: THE HUT WAS VACANT.] - -Whither? Who could tell? As well hunt for the proverbial needle amongst -a bundle of hay as seek two women of the valleys amongst their native -wilds. They might carry news to Arnaud--true, but Arnaud might have the -news and welcome! He was not likely to profit much by it. - -So the soldiers hung their camp-kettles over their fires and pushed -chestnuts into the edges of the ashes and made ready their morning meal, -blythe as the birds in the copse of birches below them. And yonder where -the mighty mountains sloped northward and eastward towards Prali, -Madeleine and her foster-child sped through the forest paths with pale -looks and quickened breathings. They had lived through so much, escaped -so much, but perhaps the fiercest danger was this last--the Savoy guard -on the Giuliano Pass. - -Madeleine’s quick ear had caught the sound of voices, and a very little -investigation had shown her the nest of hornets amidst which she and -Rénée had lain down to rest. They were well used to see danger staring -them in the face, but even Madeleine’s heart grew sick with fear as they -threaded the stony ways in that gleaming midsummer dawn. A false step -might betray them, and how have cool caution sufficient to plant each -step silently down those difficult paths? - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - - -Once clear of the defile, with its perils, the two women hurried -onwards, each turn of the hills revealing some well-remembered scene to -Madeleine. There, below, was Prali, where she had lived when a girl; -those tall poplars by the waters seemed to be unchanged since the days -when she had driven her cows into their shadow; and there away to the -right was the gleam of water where the thirteen lakes lay in the snowy -mountain spurs like dew-drops in the bosom of a rose; and surely no rose -could be lovelier than was the snow at that moment, as the sun broke -through the level mists that veiled his dawning. - -‘It was my father’s home, Rénée,’ the woman murmured wistfully, ‘my -home, where I played with my brothers, where I sat spinning at my -mother’s side, where Henri Botta came and taught me how to love him. -Long ago--ah, yes, so long ago! There is the church, look, Rénée; there -was a bell in the wooden tower that used to ring for prayer. The papists -say often that we Vaudois do not pray; had they lived in Prali they had -learned better things of us. Rénée, child, tell me canst thou see the -tower? thine eyes are clearer than mine, canst thou see it, the little -red tower with its painted bell-cage? It was Henri, my brave Henri, that -reared it, it was that building-task that brought him to Prali. Ah, how -long ago!’ - -‘And I shall never see him on earth again!’ she went on more to herself -than to Rénée. - -‘I shall never hear his voice, as when evening brought him home to me at -Prali and at Rora; but he is in higher hands than ours, ah, yes. And I -know that in the land of light I shall see him and hear him, when these -turmoils and troubles are past. Only a little while more, a very short -while, and our Master will call me too.’ - -‘It must not be that I am left behind,’ said Rénée, with a girl’s swift -thought of self. ‘Thou art all I have, mother, and we must die -together.’ - -The woman turned slowly from regarding the distance, and let her eyes -rest upon the sweet sad face so near her own. ‘That is as the Master -wills,’ she answered softly. ‘He loves thee better than I do.’ - -‘Yes,’ answered Rénée, a smile breaking over the sorrow of her mouth. -‘Yes, I know it now.’ - -It was true; in the thick darkness the Day-star had arisen for her, the -faint and far-off glimmer of God’s great light of truth. Earthly trial -and torture bites sharply, and such griefs as had beaten on Rénée -Janavel and on her people may well demand human courage and break human -hearts; but the truth was true for them, as it is true for all time, -that God’s love is stronger than pain, that in the midst of sorrow His -comfort can be sweet, and that even ‘men’s fierceness shall turn to His -praise.’ - -They were far from the crest of the Giuliano Pass by this time, and they -could hear no sign of pursuit. They turned aside to rest awhile on a -grassy slope which broke the hill-side with its long terrace, a lovely -stretch of sward, where flowers gleamed amongst the grass, and the bees -were flying heavily above the patches of wild-thyme. The shadow of a -birch-tree crossed it, making a trembling play of light and shade in the -strong sunshine; and below this clear space of grass and flowers there -came a tossed and tangled brake, full of creeping plants and broken -stones, and tussocks of moss, and the stately spires of some alpine -larkspur crowded thick with bloom. - -Here they sat, silent for the most part, for their hearts were too full -for much speech, but between them lay a sacred sympathy that scarcely -needed words. - -Madeleine’s yearning eyes were still seeking out familiar landmarks, -her memory was busy with the past; but her fingers were closed tightly -over her foster-child’s hand, and the sense of Rénée’s presence lay in -the background of her thoughts as the blue sky lay behind those birchen -boughs. And the girl’s head drooped and her eyes were downcast, but her -soul was steady and stilled. God’s ways might be mysterious and His -lessons hard, but the ways and the lessons were those of her Father, and -she could trust His love. - -Then, suddenly, over the peace and the stillness there fell a horror of -alarm. - -Down below them, coming by the poplar rows and the river-bank, were -armed men. They could see the regular ranks, and catch the gleam of -steel. _Soldiers!_ And to these hunted women of the valleys that word -meant terror and the danger of death. - -Should they hide themselves amongst the stones and trees? Should they -fly to the right or left? - -‘Ah,’ Rénée’s hand clutched her mother’s convulsively as the cry left -her lips, ‘they are all about us; see!’ - -Dark forms were climbing the hill-side on either hand. Below them was -that marching troop. Behind them was the guard of the Giuliano Pass. Was -there then any hope in flight? - -They shrank back into the shadow of the birch, a flickering and slight -shadow at best, but any movement might betray them if they crossed the -bare slope; sunlight so strong as that which bathed the grass would -reveal them only too sharply. Madeleine hid her face in her hands, and -lifted her heart in prayer. Rénée watched the approaching figures with -wide-open defiant eyes, her beautiful head held back like a stag at bay; -she threw her black cloak over the white coif and kerchief of her -foster-mother, and flung her own scarlet capucin into the shadow; it -came naturally to her to protect her mother--Madeleine, but even as she -covered and sheltered her the thought came flashing through her brain -that it was now for the last time. Surely the end had come. - -There could be no escape. The troops were advancing rapidly, led by -those who apparently knew every feature of the ground. The scouts were -close upon them now, the sound of their feet crashing through the -underwood could be distinctly heard, even the hoarse tones of their -voices and the clank of their accoutrements. Madeleine cowered yet -lower, and a whispered word of prayer came like a groan from her lips. - -And then, starting forwards with a jerk as of a bow released from its -tension, Rénée snatched her hands from her mother’s hold, and held them -out with a ringing cry. - -‘Gaspard!’ she called, ‘Gaspard!’ - -The hill above her echoed it, the dear, long-unuttered word; and -Madeleine, bewildered, repeated it in her turn, as if speaking in a -dream. ‘Gaspard! Gaspard!’ - -And there were hurrying steps bounding over the brake, and a voice loud -and strong calling across the distance. And then.... - -But neither Rénée nor Madeleine could remember very clearly what -happened then. They knew that, instead of danger, help had come, instead -of death a newer and dearer life, instead of the faces of their foes the -sight of their best-beloved. - -And there on the hill-slopes where he had first beheld her Henri Botta -met his wife again. Safe after perils unspeakable; together after -bitterest separation. Was it strange that for the moment they forgot -that there was still trouble and trial in God’s fair world, and that -while the golden sunshine lay bright upon the grass they should, for -those brief minutes at least, forget that the Vaudois had yet to win the -valleys? - -‘Rénée,’ whispered Gaspard, holding the girl’s hands in both his own, -and looking down into her frank eyes as he spoke, ‘Rénée, I trusted thee -to the - -[Illustration: ‘GASPARD!’ SHE CALLED, ‘GASPARD!’] - -care of our Father above, and He has preserved thee alive.’ - -‘But I,’ and her answering voice sunk and broke, ‘but I have been -faithless--unworthy. I have doubted. I have despaired.’ - -The tramp of the main body of Arnaud’s army was close upon them. Gaspard -remembered his place, which was on the advance guard. - -‘I must go,’ he said hurriedly. ‘At our noonday halt I shall find thee. -My father and mother and thee--keep together, keep with the troops. -Farewell for a short while, dear one; and may God grant us each a braver -faith, and then a larger heart of thankfulness!’ - - - - -CHAPTER XV. - - -The two women could give Arnaud very full and important information as -to the whereabouts of the enemy. Madeleine, who knew every yard of the -ground, could explain just where a passage was possible, exactly where -the best hope lay of forcing or outflanking the Savoy guard. In their -hurried escape at daybreak they had seen the spot chosen for the defence -of the pass, and they could guess at the number of men entrenched behind -the giant boulders, and the means they had taken to render the natural -defences of the place impregnable. - -The Vaudois halted about three or four miles from the crest of the -gorge, well on the Prali side, and out of sight of the duke’s men. There -was not one amongst them all but knew the enormous importance of the -next few hours. If they were repulsed and beaten back, the Marquis de -Larrey, who was in command of the French troops beyond the Doire, or the -Marquis de Parelle, who held the Valley of St. Martino, would be on -their track, and - -[Illustration: THE ROCK OF BALSILLE.] - -they must die on the threshold of their own land, like rats caught in a -trap. There was no time for much calculation. Arnaud drew his men -together, and briefly told them what they must do. - -‘Beyond the pass is the vale of Luserna, Angrogna, and the homes we -love. The pass is held by two, perhaps three, or even four hundred -troops. We must force it, or die. God, who hath helped thus far, will -not forsake us now. Ask His aid, Vaudois, not with your lips only, but -with your lifted hearts. His strength is with us, as He hath indeed -shown us from the moment we left the wood at Nyon. For my part, I can -trust Him to give us victory even here. What say you, Vaudois?’ - -There was a hoarse murmur, a sound more significant than articulate -words. The haggard, hungry faces were alight with a living faith, an -ardent hope. - -‘Lead on,’ said one in whom they trusted, Montoux, the second in command -to Arnaud. ‘Lead on! a blow struck swiftly needs not to be struck twice. -Two hundred or four, what matters it, since they must be encountered? -and so lead on.’ - -Then Henri Botti stepped to the front, leading Madeleine. - -‘My wife well knows these hills; here she was reared, and her father’s -farm stretched yonder up towards Mount Cornan. She crossed the pass -this morning at the sunrising, and saw where the enemy lies to bar our -path. There is a way, a toilsome and dangerous way truly, but still one -that can be trodden by Vaudois’ feet, and it will lead us out beyond the -crown of the defile, beyond the garrison that holds it against us.’ - -‘It is really so,’ said Madeleine, speaking out simply before them all. -‘The path is scarcely more than a track for wild goats, but it will -serve.’ - -‘Aye, it will serve,’ said Arnaud. ‘Gaspard Botta, do thou go with thy -mother in advance. And as for this maiden----’ - -‘She stays at my side, an it please thee,’ interrupted the foster-mother -quickly. ‘She is my comfort, my charge, my daughter that is to be--Rénée -Janavel of Rora.’ - -The name was enough. Some few who had looked grave at the idea of -trusting at so important a crisis to a woman’s guidance turned eagerly -to look at this girl, the descendant of the old chief Janavel, the man -who was waiting even now at Geneva to hear how they had fared. She had -something of his bearing too, the same high brow and lofty carriage of -the head; ah, yes, it was only fitting that one of the name of Janavel -should lead again the warriors of the valleys. - -Long afterwards the story was told in Vaudois’ homes of how the Pass of -Guliano was won; of how the mountaineers crept along the dangerous ways, -winning foothold and advancement where it was hard to believe that armed -men could go; and always before them was Madeleine Botta, hale and noble -in her age and homely dignity; and at her side, with hand held ever out -to aid her foster-mother, and eye watchful for each sign of danger, trod -the grandchild of their hero, Rénée Janavel. And over and over the tale -was repeated how the enemy broke and fled, leaving behind them -provision, ammunition, and baggage; a welcome store for the men who came -empty and poor in all things save belief in their cause and faith in -their God. - -Before the sun set the Savoy guard were fugitives on the mountain side, -and the Vaudois stood shoulder to shoulder on the Col di St. Guliano, -gazing down on the Luserna Valley, the very heart of their fatherland, -the goal of their dearest hopes. - -There was a renewed strength in Henri Botta’s face and mien as he led -his wife into the rear, and brought her food from the Savoy stores, and -water to bathe her bruised and bleeding feet. And as he tended her and -Rénée he turned to kiss the forehead of his adopted child with fervent -love and pride. - -‘God has indeed blessed me, since my old eyes behold once more not only -Piedmont, but you!’ he said, turning from one to the other, as if he -found it hard to believe that they were there in very flesh and blood. - -‘I have dreamed of you often--of you and of the old house at Rora; as I -have dreamed sometimes of God’s angels and the fields of heaven. This -then is true,’ he laid his knotted hand on Madeleine’s. ‘I verily -behold! and the other dream, the heavenly one, is yet to be realised.’ - -Rénée was crying softly, for very joy and weariness; it was sweet to -feel that the lonely struggle was over at last, that she and her mother, -Madeleine, were encircled with friendly care, and held safe in loving -companionship. The long months and years of hiding and terror were -past--the waiting-time had ended in content. And yet the Vaudois had but -entered the borders of their Canaan, the victory was yet to be gained, -the return was yet to be accomplished. - -Arnaud knew that this was so, and his look, though as firm of faith as -ever, was grave to sadness as he gazed down on Luserna from the Col di -St. Guliano. He knew that hitherto his men had conquered by the wild -dash of their onslaught, by the sudden and unexpected way they attacked -the French and Savoy troops. This could not continue. - -No reinforcements could come from the wasted Vaudois villages, no -ammunition could be reckoned on save what they could wrench from the -enemy, unless it were the stones from the hill-side which might be used -instead of bullets; and as for food they must trust to the half-ripe -corn in the fields, and to the produce of such farms as dotted the glens -and slopes. - -Every day would raise fresh difficulties for them--every mile of ground -must be gained by battle, and held by costly strife; and as the struggle -swept here and there through the valleys how were the wounded to be -tended, or the dead to have Christian burial? - -It was no wonder that Arnaud’s brow was lined with anxious thought, as -his glance swept the country lying before the entrance to the pass. -There was stern work in front of his men, and he knew it. - -The next day the Vaudois took Bobbio without much difficulty, and they -attacked the large town of Villaro in the midst of the Luserna Valley. -This latter place was defended by veteran troops, and the duke’s general -succeeded in thronging into it a large body of reinforcements: and then -what Arnaud had foreseen occurred. The Vaudois were beaten back, and -obliged to disperse, scattering themselves over the Vandalin range, the -very ground where Henri Botta and his sons had retreated before that -terrible storm of death and fanaticism in 1686. The papal forces had -triumphed then, the mountaineers were driven like autumn leaves before a -gale. Was this to be their fate again, now, after such high hopes and -glorious imaginings? - -Their chronicler writes: ‘The defeat at Villaro changed their tactics; -henceforth they attacked rarely, and then only convoys, advanced posts, -and detached columns. They entrenched themselves in mountainous retreats -difficult of access, in natural fortresses easy of defence, while their -detachments scoured the country to obtain provisions. It was on the -declivities of their mountains, in the centre of their verdant pastures, -once covered with their flocks, but now solitary, that they prepared to -sell their lives as dearly as might be; decided, as they were, to die in -their heritage, on their widowed and desolate soil, or to wring from -their prince an honourable peace, and freedom to worship their God.’ - -But during these trial days they had what they lacked in 1686. Arnaud -was their leader, their comforter, their minister. With a courage that -never flagged, and a simple faith that was as strong as the sunlight, he -preached to them the old enthusiastic trust in the power and the grace -of God. - -These critical days lasted throughout September, and on the 22nd of -October two thousand French troops crossed the frontier, to unite with -the duke’s forces, and once more ‘sweep the valleys clean of heresy.’ -Then Arnaud called a council, and asked each man if he had any plan to -propose, any refuge or resource to indicate. But, for the most part, -they recognised the dire necessity of the case, without being able to -advise a remedy. - -‘We can conquer the villages, we can force the passes,’ they said sadly, -‘but we cannot hold possession of the valleys--we, so poor a remnant, so -helpless a company.’ - -‘Neither so poor nor so helpless as those with less righteousness in -their cause,’ said Gaspard Botta. But he was a young man, and modest, as -became his years, therefore his words were almost unheard in the -conclave. - -It was the leader, Arnaud, who decided on what was to be done. At best -it was but a forlorn hope. - -Northwards, just within the frontiers of the Vaudois valleys, is -Balsille, a village on the Germanasque stream: here Arnaud determined to -make a stand. It was a natural fortress, and strong enough, he thought, -to be held--at least throughout the winter. - -It is a wonderful citadel, this Rock of Balsille: a lofty hill broken -into terraces, with fountains of water, and a peak commanding the -country for miles around, where sentinels might give timely warning of -the advance of the foe. Here they were savagely attacked by the whole -strength of the French troops; but the soldiers beat against the place -in vain, for the mountaineers had seized every corner of vantage, and -had strengthened by earthworks and entrenchments the almost precipitous -cliff. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI. - - -The siege for weeks went on--uselessly. And then, as the days grew cold -and dark, the French retired to seek winter quarters. They flung a -jibing message to the Vaudois, bidding them have patience, and wait for -them there until Easter. - -[Illustration] - -But, meanwhile, how was the Rock of Balsille to be provisioned? The -enemy had burned the corn-stacks and granges in the valley, and had -carried off every eatable thing to be found. Starvation came very -closely into the Vaudois’ reckoning in those early winter days, and -starvation might have done the work in which the French had failed and -conquered the garrison there and then, had it not been for a discovery -of Rénée Janavel’s. - -She had wandered into the valley, past the mill of Macel, and along the -banks of the river, seeking something, if it were but a few frost-bitten -cabbages, wherewith to make soup for her Mother-Madeleine. She was -unsuccessful; the ground had been searched over and over again; not a -leaf of salad, not an edible root was to be found. Icicles hung to the -idle mill-wheel and fringed the edges of the stream. Long wisps of -grasses lay dead and drifted in the water; and the dark sky stooped so -low and frowningly that the peak of the Balsille had pierced the clouds -and was out of sight beyond the lowering vapours. - -Rénée was cold, and she was hungry, yet her eye was bright and her heart -was lightsome; privation and suffering were not so hard to bear when -safe in the love of those who loved her--the trials of the Balsille were -small compared to the silence and the waiting-time in that cave in the -vale of Luserna. She wrapped her tattered cloak more tightly round her, -and shook the loosened hair from her eyes. She might even have been -heard singing to herself as she crossed the wide snow-covered land that -stretched by the banks of the river. - -Suddenly she noticed a spot where some animal had been scratching in the -snow. Could it be straw, grain--eatable, useful _food_, that lay there -under the white crust, frozen beneath the snow? She flung herself on -her knees, and began to search further and deeper. Presently a burning -flush came on her cheeks, an eager light to her eyes. - -There was rye beneath the snow. Rye, ripe and plentiful! weighed down, -hidden and preserved by the thick white covering that had lain unmelted -since the heavy storm of last September. Whole fields of rye! unreaped -by the fugitive owners, unguessed at by the troops that had trodden -across that white expanse, little dreaming of the treasure beneath their -feet. - -The girl ran back to the Balsille, and, panting, told her tale. -Gaspard’s face flushed with proud joy as he heard her; he rejoiced that -it was his Rénée that was bringing help to the Vaudois, that it should -be the grandchild of Janavel who was the bearer of the best news that -could come to the starving and half-desperate people. - -‘It is our God’s granary!’ said Henri Botta, solemnly. ‘Our Father, who -Himself stored His corn for us thus.’ - -And were not the words true? The God who feedeth the young lions when -they cry had not forgotten His servants in the time of their need. - -So the silent mill-stones of Marcel revolved once more, and the scent -of the dry grain was as fragrance in the nostrils of the mountaineers. -‘We shall be ready for the foe at Easter,’ they said, and their -light-hearted laughter rung out on the wind. - -But their case was too grave and their position too perilous for a few -acres of rye to be their salvation. When Easter came they were still -holding the Balsille; but as Arnaud called them together for the daily -service of prayer, he noted how their ranks had shrunk, and he saw how -sickness had reduced the strength of such as still called themselves -fighting men. - - * * * * * - -The foe returned in early spring; a foe numbering now no less than -twenty-two thousand! Arnaud and his feeble garrison could muster but -about six hundred! surely an insignificant garrison to call forth such -an armament for its reduction. Cannon were planted on the opposite hill; -batteries were cast up on all sides. The Balsille must be taken now, -were the Vaudois as obstinate as the _barbets_ their enemies had -scoffingly likened them to. A flag of truce was sent to them, and they -were summoned for the last time to surrender. - -Arnaud’s answer is historical. ‘We are no subjects of the King of -France,’ he said. ‘We cannot treat with his officers. We are in the -heritage left us by our fathers from times unknown; by the aid and grace -of the Lord of Hosts we will live and die therein. Discharge your -artillery; our rocks will not be terrified, and we will listen to the -thunder with calmness, should there be but ten of us left!’ - -The defiance was as lofty in tone as ever, but yet the heart of the man -who sent that proud answer had been brought very low. His trust did not -fail him, nor his submission to God’s will, but he had begun to think -that it must be this will of God that he and his men should die there on -the hills of their country, and that the race of the Vaudois should -perish from the earth. ‘Even so, Father, since it is good in Thy sight!’ - -On the 14th of May they saw the Balsille could no longer be defended. -Flight only remained; and once more they must begin the weary wanderings -amongst caves and holes in the rocks, chased as David was chased by Saul -on the hills of Palestine. Covered by a dense fog, they crept through -the French lines, a woeful wreck and remnant, flying to their hill -hiding-places, afraid lest word or step should betray them to immediate -slaughter. Southwards they fled; down through Prali towards the -mountains of Angrogna. - -‘Mother,’ said Rénée, ‘this wild journeying will kill thee. We women can -never keep up with the march of our troops. Is it not better to stay -here where we stand? we can but die.’ - -[Illustration: MESSENGERS APPROACHING.] - -But Madeleine laid her hand against her lips. ‘Courage yet, dear child. -It is nearly over now.’ - -Nearly over--aye, but in another sense than that she meant. - -On the 18th of May two men met the flying Vaudois. They were messengers -from Victor Amadeus, and messengers to them. - -A strange message they bore. England, Germany, Holland, and Spain had -formed a coalition against Louis XIV., and had called upon the Duke of -Savoy to decide at once whether he would join their alliance or hold to -his friendship with France. He had decided; and on the side of the -strongest; therefore the French were now his enemies; and he sent to ask -whether Arnaud and his mountaineers would enrol themselves on the side -of Savoy, and help to drive Louis’ men back across the frontier. If -Arnaud consented, the valleys were to be placed there and then under his -protection and control. - -Could it be true? ‘Protection,’ ‘control.’ Strange words in the ears of -the handful of hunted outcasts who were flying for their lives. But to -enforce the news and prove its truth the Piedmontese garrison of La -Torre sent out food and gifts of clothing, which were indeed sorely -needed; and other messengers came from the duke, repeating the same tale -and demanding instant reply. And presently--most conclusive proof of -all--their minister, Montoux, and others who had been carried prisoners -to Turin, came hurrying to meet them in transports of joy. - -Yes, it was true! God had remembered His promise, and had been faithful -to His word. The trust of the Vaudois had not been in vain, the -struggle was over--the victory was won! - -Before many months were past the Vaudois were re-established in their -homes; from the east and west they came, flocking homewards to their -land won for them by Arnaud and his heroes. Or, rather as they -themselves would say, the land restored to them by the grace of their -Father in heaven. - -The sharp endurance, the agony, the exile--all, all was past, and for -the years to come they and their children’s children might lift humble -hearts in thankfulness that God had honoured them by letting them bear -such witness for His truth. - -The charter of their freedom was given at last. The valleys were their -own; their faith was secure. - - * * * * * - -A white-walled cottage in Rora stood smothered in vines, and resonant -with children’s voices. Here Rénée, sweet-eyed as of old, albeit of -matronly air and manner, watches for Gaspard’s coming from his work as -her busy hands ply distaff or needle, and her foot keeps the rocker of -the cradle moving in time to her song. - -It is a song in which an aged voice joins now and again as Mother -Madeleine catches the well-known burden of the words--a song which the -Vaudois have chanted since the hour of their ‘Glorious Return’; not the -‘Psalm of Strong Confidence,’ but the song of their triumph. - - ‘If it had not been the Lord was on our side - When men rose up against us, - Then they had swallowed us up quick, and the - stream had gone over our soul: - Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us - As a prey to their teeth! - Our soul is escaped as a bird from the snare. - The snare is broken, and we are escaped! - Our help is in the Name of the Lord, - The Lord who made heaven and earth.’ - -[Illustration] - - - - -APPENDIX. - - THE INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN TO HIS COMPATRIOTS BY JOSHUA JANAVEL, WHO - WAS TOO OLD TO ACCOMPANY THEM ON THEIR ‘GLORIOUS RETURN.’ - - -The Lord not permitting me, to my great sorrow, by reason of my -infirmity, to follow you, I considered it my duty to neglect nothing for -the good of my poor country: therefore I give you in writing my ideas as -to the course you should take on the way, and in your engagements and -attacks, if the Lord mercifully bring you to your mountains, as I hope, -and I pray God with all my heart that He may prosper everything to His -glory and the re-establishment of His Church. I beg you, therefore, to -take in good part the contents of this letter. - -If our Church has been reduced to such an extremity, our sin is the real -cause thereof. We must more and more every day humble ourselves before -God, and earnestly crave pardon ... ever having recourse to Him; and -when troubles arise be patient, redouble your courage, so that _there -may be nothing firmer than your faith_. Therefore doubt not that God -will preserve you and accomplish your projects to His glory and the -advancement of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. - -As soon as you reach the enemy’s territory, you must seize three or four -men of the place, wherever you find them: then you must make them march -with you from place to place, and when you reach some part where there -is danger of alarms, you must send one of these men with one of your own -to give notice to the peasants to trouble themselves about nothing, and -that you will do them no harm or injury, if only they let you pass.... -And if you want anything you must pay them fairly. - -You must behave as prudently as possible for the sake of your -neighbours, the Swiss Lords, who should be your friends. - -Moreover, as to the management of the war, provided that God in His -mercy allows you to go whither you desire, you must, every one of you, -fall on your knees, raise your eyes and hands to heaven, your heart and -soul to the Lord in earnest prayer, that He will give you His Spirit, -and enable you to choose the most capable amongst you to lead the -others. - -In the evening you must all gather together to offer prayer to God. You -must place numerous sentinels, using the most timorous of your soldiers -for the evening and throughout the night, and the boldest and most -expert towards daylight. - -When you see the enemy approaching, let them draw as near as possible: -fire at first upon the officers, make no ill-timed discharge, and be -prompt in re-charging your arms, and, if possible, have bullets which -exactly fit the bore of the gun, to ensure straight firing. - -When you pursue or make a search for the enemy, put soldiers in the -field to attack the flanks of the troops, but never allow the head to -advance without notice from the flank; in this way you will all be safe, -and Christ’s Church also, _provided you be faithful Christians_. - -In every encounter take great care to spare innocent or useless blood, -so as not to have to answer for it before God; and, above all, be not -overcome by fear or by anger; then will the sword of the Lord, as well -as His grace, be with you, and he who trusts in the living God shall -never perish. - -Whoever passes over to the enemy, unless he be taken prisoner arms in -hand, must be punished with death. He shall have the liberty of choosing -the persons by whom he is to be shot. - -Sentence of death must be passed upon anyone who remains on the field of -battle to plunder the enemy before orders from the captain. - -After the first battle it is desirable that your officers change clothes -with the more poorly clad members of their company. While on the march -there is no need to grant any quarter to prisoners. - -Trust neither the letters nor the words of the enemy: and it is when -they desire to confer that you must be most on your guard. - -When you make an attack you must have ambuscades in the flank, and after -making an advance you must fall back, so that the enemy may pursue you; -when the engagement occurs in the ambuscades, you must face about, and -so you will make many dead and wounded, for _such are the fruits of -war_. - -Spare converted families (_catholisées_), for otherwise God would be -grieved. - -If God grant that you reach your mountains, which I hope, you must first -know where your place of retreat is to be. If you are only six or seven -hundred strong, you must attack simultaneously the Valley of Luserna and -the Valley of St. Martin; but first fix your retreat, which should be in -the Valley of St. Martin, the _Balciglia_, and in the Valley of Luserna, -_Balmadaut_, _l’Aiguille_, and _La Combe de Giausarand_, which was the -ancient retreat of our fathers. - -Always keep sentinels on the tops of the mountains, so as not to be -surprised from the Pragela side, and keep the passes clear from one -valley to the other. On the Col Julien place a guard composed of men -from each valley--half from one, half from the other. - -As for you others of the _Balciglia_, he continues, you are all men of -strength and used to toil; therefore spare no pains in well fortifying -this point, which will be a very strong retreat for you. - -In case you are attacked by a large number of troops, you must withdraw -altogether to the most convenient places, such as _Balmadaut_, -_Sarcena_, _La Combe de Giausarand_, and _l’Aiguille_; but leave the -_Balciglia only at the last extremity_. They will not fail to tell you -that you cannot hold out for ever, and that all France and Italy will -turn upon you rather than you should succeed; but _say that you fear -nothing, not even death, and that if the whole world were against you, -and you alone against the whole world, you fear only the Almighty who is -your Protector_. - -To regain possession of your valleys, he says, you must first seize that -of St. Martin. To make a successful attack, you must form three -companies,--one to occupy the mountain tops, the second to keep the -Bridge of the Tour (near Pomaret), and the third must be divided into -two, to invest Perrier. It is very necessary to take Perrier, as -otherwise no assistance or retreat is possible without discovery. - -As to the Valley of Luserna, the highest mountain must be reached, and -promptness must be exercised in sending half of the soldiers down the -rivers to cut the bridges, then to stand their ground in planting -ambushes in suitable and narrow places. The Bridge of Subiasq must be -strongly guarded, to prevent the carrying off of cattle and provisions. - -As to the town of Bobbio, I do not believe that the enemy will encamp -there. As to Villar, I will tell you by word of mouth what I think. I -will not commit it to writing. Tour must be invested at night, and -completely surrounded by fires, so that the smoke may serve as a screen -from the fire of the fort. As to St. Jean and Angrogna, I cannot tell -you all the plans proposed, and therefore you must act according to -circumstances. - -As soon as you have entered the valleys you must put up the ministers, -doctors, and wounded in the Serre-de-Cruel, and when the town of Bobbio -is taken they should withdraw to Sarcena; and when Villar is taken, they -should go to Pertuzel, and when Tour is taken to Rua-de-Bonnet or to -Taillaret. Finally, when Pramol, Angrogna, and Rocheplatte are taken, -they must be removed to Pra-du-Tor, whence they will bestow their care -and good advice upon the people of both valleys. - - W. RIDER, AND SON, PRINTERS, LONDON. - -Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber: - -1867, James II. was on the English throne=> 1687, James II. was on the -English throne {pg 81} - -those whe loved her=> those who loved her {pg 142} - - - - - - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Glorious Return, by Crona Temple - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GLORIOUS RETURN *** - -***** This file should be named 50122-0.txt or 50122-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/0/1/2/50122/ - -Produced by Chris Curnow, Lindy Walsh, Chuck Greif and the -Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: The Glorious Return - A Story of the Vaudois in 1698 - -Author: Crona Temple - -Release Date: October 3, 2015 [EBook #50122] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GLORIOUS RETURN *** - - - - -Produced by Chris Curnow, Lindy Walsh, Chuck Greif and the -Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -</pre> - -<hr class="full" /> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/ispine_lg.jpg"> -<img src="images/ispine_sml.jpg" width="70" height="500" alt="Image not available: spine" /></a> -<a href="images/cover_lg.jpg"> -<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="320" height="500" alt="Image not available: cover" /></a> -</p> - -<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="" -style="border: 2px black solid;margin:auto auto;max-width:50%; -padding:1%;"> -<tr><td><p>Some typographical errors have been corrected; -<a href="#transcrib">a list follows the text</a>.</p> -<p class="c"> -Contents: -<a href="#PREFACE">Preface.</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_I">Chapter I., </a> -<a href="#CHAPTER_II"> II., </a> -<a href="#CHAPTER_III"> III., </a> -<a href="#CHAPTER_IV"> IV., </a> -<a href="#CHAPTER_V"> V., </a> -<a href="#CHAPTER_VI"> VI., </a> -<a href="#CHAPTER_VII"> VII., </a> -<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII"> VIII., </a> -<a href="#CHAPTER_IX"> IX., </a> -<a href="#CHAPTER_X"> X., </a> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XI"> XI., </a> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XII"> XII., </a> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII"> XIII., </a> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV"> XIV., </a> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XV"> XV., </a> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI"> XVI., </a> -<a href="#APPENDIX">Appendix.</a></p> - -<p class="c"><span class="nonvis">(In certain versions of this etext [in certain browsers] -clicking on this symbol <img class="enlargeimage" src="images/enlarge-image.jpg" alt="Image not available: " title="" height="14" width="18" />, -or directly on the image, -will bring up a larger version of the illustration.)</span></p> - -<p class="c">(etext transcriber's note)</p></td></tr> -</table> - -<p class="cb">THE GLORIOUS RETURN.</p> - -<p><a name="page_001" id="page_001"></a></p> - -<p><a name="page_002" id="page_002"></a></p> - -<p><a name="page_004" id="page_004"></a></p> - -<p><a name="page_005" id="page_005"></a><a name="page_003" id="page_003"></a></p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i005_lg.jpg"> -<br /> -<img class="enlargeimage" -src="images/enlarge-image.jpg" -alt="Image not available: " -width="18" -height="14" /> -<br /> -<img src="images/i005_sml.jpg" width="448" height="281" alt="Image not available: ARNAUD POINTING TO THE VAUDOIS HILLS. - -See page 110." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">ARNAUD POINTING TO THE VAUDOIS HILLS. - -See page 110.</span> -</div> - -<p><a name="page_006" id="page_006"></a></p> - -<h1>THE GLORIOUS RETURN</h1> - -<p class="c"><span class="eng">A Story of the Vaudois in 1689</span><br /> -<br /> -BY<br /> -CRONA TEMPLE<br /> -<i>Author of “The Last House in London,” etc.</i><br /> -<br /> -T H E R E L I G I O U S T R A C T S O C I E T Y,<br /> -<span class="smcap">56, Paternoster Row; 65, St. Paul’s Churchyard,<br /> -and 164, Piccadilly.</span></p> - -<p><a name="page_007" id="page_007"></a></p> - -<p><a name="page_008" id="page_008"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE.</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">I</span><small>T</small> is nearly two hundred years since the long persecutions of the Church -in the Alpine valleys ended in their ‘Glorious Return’ from exile, and -their gain of liberty of conscience and freedom from the yoke of Rome. -It is but right that in 1889 Protestant countries should unite in -offering sympathy and brotherly help to the Waldensian Church in its -time of commemoration. Two hundred years ago, Britain, Germany, Holland, -Switzerland, and the Protestants of France vied with each other in -showing their generous love for these sorely-tried children of God. And -in these happier times it is well to turn back the history page, to -learn what it was that stirred the hearts of our forefathers; to learn -what manner of woe it was that the Vaudois endured; to read how the God -they served did not suffer them to be tempted beyond what they were able -to bear, but—giving them the high honour of bearing witness to His -truth, He comforted them at last with His gifts of freedom and of peace. -It is in<a name="page_009" id="page_009"></a> such memories that nations may learn their lessons of truest -wisdom. Christianity should be national as well as individual: the -Heavenly King demands service from nations as well as from hearts. And -it is right that, though the Waldenses are foreigners, and a people of -but small account on Europe’s muster-roll, their bi-centenary should -waken echoes in England; such echoes as God wills that noble deeds -should stir throughout all time.<a name="page_010" id="page_010"></a></p> - -<h1>THE GLORIOUS RETURN.</h1> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">T</span><small>HE</small> sunlight was fading from the hills, and the pine-forests were -growing grey in the creeping shadow.</p> - -<p>A northerly breeze had been blowing from the mountains, but it had died -down, as north winds do, with the sunsetting; a great stillness had -fallen upon the valleys.</p> - -<p>One could hear the torrent as it leapt from the snows above, rushing and -gurgling in the gorge it had graven for itself on its way to the Pélice -River. One could hear too, faint and far away, the cry of the ravens as -they circled over a meadow; and one might catch the jarring call of a -night-hawk as it woke from its daylight sleep.</p> - -<p>But these sounds rather blended with than broke upon the silence. And -there seemed besides<a name="page_011" id="page_011"></a> no sign of life or motion in all the width of the -valley.</p> - -<p>There were traces of cultivation on the hill-sides where careful hands -had terraced and tilled the stony soil, winning from the wilderness -fields for pastures and for corn.</p> - -<p>There were also buildings that had the semblance of cottages, a group of -ruins here by the stream-side, and single ones standing yonder beyond -the spurs of the pine-woods.</p> - -<p>But in those fields were now neither flocks nor herds, nor any sign of -corn; and from those broken chimneys no smoke-wreaths drifted to tell of -human lives about the warm hearth-stones.</p> - -<p>It was the year 1687, and the valley was the Valley of Luserna, in the -Piedmontese Alps.</p> - -<p>This was the country of the Vaudois, and it was indeed desolate after -the bitter persecution which had followed the Revocation of the Edict of -Nantes.</p> - -<p>Storms of cruelty and the bitterness of superstition had swept the -valleys at various times, but never a storm so devastating and terrible -as this. From Fenestrelle to Rora, from the Pra Pass to the plains of -Piedmont, fire and sword had driven forth the remnant of the Vaudois. -Hundreds had fallen, fighting for their faith and for their homes; -hundreds<a name="page_012" id="page_012"></a> had perished under the white pall of the winter snows; and -hundreds more had died on the scaffold or in the prisons of the plain.</p> - -<p>And the remnant, the poor harried and hunted souls, had gone forth to -seek an asylum—if such there might be found—where they might worship -their God according to His Word.</p> - -<p>The sun sank lower yet; the line of light retreated farther up the -mountain-peaks. The ravens sullenly stooped and settled on the rocks. -The torrent kept its noisy way, charged with the blue snow-water that -came glancing from the hills.</p> - -<p>Suddenly a woman’s voice rose on the air, clear, and very sweet. It came -through the sprays of creeping plants that veiled a crag so steep that -one might marvel how human being could have climbed there. It was a -haunt fit only for the chamois or the hill-sheep; and on either hand -spread dense forests and ravines where the snow-wreaths lay yet -unmelted.</p> - -<p>The song rang forth. It was no wavering strain, no uncertain sound, but -a chant of triumph that held also a note of defiance—</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i5">‘God’s Name is great!<br /></span> -<span class="i6">He breaketh the arrow of the bow,<br /></span> -<span class="i6">The shield, the sword and the battle.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Thou art of more honour and might than the mountains of prey.<br /></span> -<span class="i6">Thou, even Thou art to be feared.<a name="page_013" id="page_013"></a><br /></span> -<span class="i6">The earth trembled and was still when God arose<br /></span> -<span class="i6">To help the meek upon the earth.<br /></span> -<span class="i6">The fierceness of man shall turn to Thy praise,<br /></span> -<span class="i6">And the fierceness of the violent shalt Thou restrain.<br /></span> -<span class="i6">God shall refrain the spirit of princes.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The Lord our God is terrible unto the kings of the earth.’<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p>The voice ceased; as the last note died away the last sun-shaft touched -the highest peak. The day was done. Night had fallen on the Valley of -Luserna.</p> - -<p>Behind the ivy-sprays and the clinging rock plants there was a path on -the face of the cliff widening as it rose, until—some fifty feet above -the stream—it spread into a platform or tiny amphitheatre completely -hidden from any prying eye that might search the cliff from below.</p> - -<p>From above one might perhaps peer into its recesses; but then no living -thing ever did look from above, save the falcons and the ravens, or -perhaps a wild goat, tempted by the tufts of mountain flowers which -bloomed against the edges of the snow.</p> - -<p>Presently, far back in the hill-cleft, a small red flame leaped up, fed -on dried grasses and fir-cones.</p> - -<p>‘Rénée, Rénée,’ called a woman’s voice, ‘thou art too rash, dear child. -May not that light betray us after all?’<a name="page_014" id="page_014"></a></p> - -<p>‘Oh, no, mother! No one comes here now; we are safe, quite safe. And see -where Tutu creeps forward to the blaze! Thou art cold, my poor Tutu? -Then rest thee, none will harm thee here.’</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i014_lg.jpg"> -<br /> -<img class="enlargeimage" -src="images/enlarge-image.jpg" -alt="Image not available: " -width="18" -height="14" /> -<br /> -<img src="images/i014_sml.jpg" width="230" height="256" alt="Image not available: MAY NOT THAT LIGHT BETRAY?" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">MAY NOT THAT LIGHT BETRAY?</span> -</div> - -<p>A dormouse lifted its beadlike eyes to the speaker’s face, as if well -understanding that it was loved and safe. It was a sort of friend to -these poor refugees, here in their mountain hiding-place, a creature -even more weak and helpless than themselves.<a name="page_015" id="page_015"></a></p> - -<p>Again the woman’s voice was heard.</p> - -<p>‘Dear child, be not stubborn. Have we endured so much only to perish now -for lack of a little further patience? A fire even by daylight is rash, -at night its glow is almost certain to be seen.’</p> - -<p>The girl she addressed stood silent for a moment, the flicker of the -fire fell on her slender figure and on the graceful lines of her head -and throat. Then she stooped and flung earth upon the flame, treading -out the scarcely kindled heap, and scattering the fir-cones till their -brightened edges died into little rims and coils of grey.</p> - -<p>Rénée Janavel had learnt how to obey and how to suffer, but to-night one -word of pleading forced its way from her lips.</p> - -<p>‘It is in the night,’ she said, ‘in the dark night that we need the -cheer and the warmth. Oh, mother, I lit the fire to keep away my -fear——’</p> - -<p>The words sank in a broken whisper; it was strange for Rénée Janavel to -speak of fear.</p> - -<p>The woman paused in wonder.</p> - -<p>Why should Rénée be afraid of aught but the danger which the blaze might -bring—the danger of cruel men who were thirsting for their blood: men -who had sworn that no remnant of the proscribed race should be left in -the valleys, and who had swept the fields and forests again and again in -their<a name="page_016" id="page_016"></a> search for any Vaudois in hiding there? Rénée, child of the -mountains as she was, why should she fear anything but this? The winter -was past, and the prowling wolves had withdrawn themselves; the shy -black bears that haunted the hills were not creatures to be greatly -affrighted at. What ailed the girl?</p> - -<p>Rénée came to her side, and hid her face against the woman’s knee.</p> - -<p>‘It is so lonely,’ she murmured brokenly. ‘Lately, at night, I have -thought over many things, terrible things—and I have been frightened -even to turn my head, too frightened to call to you. Oh, mother, mother -dear! will these days never have an end? Shall we never be happy again, -Gaspard and you and I?</p> - -<p>‘I know that it is cowardly,’ she went on in pathetic appeal. ‘But, -mother, you are well now, almost quite strong again: could we not creep -away and gain the Swiss country where the rest are gone; and see the -dear friendly faces, and sleep in peace, afraid of no man?’</p> - -<p>She stopped, for her throat was full of sobbing, and her head sank lower -yet upon the trembling hands.</p> - -<p>Just then some remaining spark of fire was kindled into blaze by the -wind that swept into the cave, and the dried grass leapt into a red -flame that<a name="page_017" id="page_017"></a> threw dancing gleams and shadows on the rocks around, and -touched the trunk of a pine overhanging the place with a glow as of -deepest orange. Little Tutu, the dormouse, curled himself up in soft -satisfaction, a nut which Rénée had given him held tight in his tiny -paws.</p> - -<p>The woman looked at the fire, but she did not again ask that it should -be extinguished.</p> - -<p>‘Rénée,’ she said, ‘it is out of all possibility that I should climb the -hill passes. I can never see the Swiss country. And, indeed, here in -mine own land I would choose to stay, that my last earthly look should -rest on the valley I love so well. And for yourself, dear child, how -could you go all that long and dangerous way? It was for my sake that -you stayed, Rénée. But now—I would not keep you, child, if it were -possible for you to gain safety, to reach friends, there in the land -where one may worship the good God in peace. But as it is——’</p> - -<p>‘Mother! do not speak so! Never, never can I desert you! You know I will -not leave you while life holds us together.’</p> - -<p>She rose to her feet. One might see the stateliness of her figure as she -stood betwixt the fire-glow and the twilight, her head erect, her face -full of the strength of love and trust.<a name="page_018" id="page_018"></a></p> - -<p>‘Sing it again, mother,’ she said, ‘the hymn that you sang just now. And -forget that Rénée has been afraid of shadows.’</p> - -<p>The woman took her hand and held it tenderly between her own.</p> - -<p>‘Tell me, Rénée,’ she said, ‘why were you frightened? Has any new thing -chanced?’</p> - -<p>‘No, no; it is the long weariness, the uncertainty, the remembering—oh, -it is just everything! Whilst you were ill, mother, I had no time to be -frightened; but now, when we sit and watch the sun go down, I remember -all that has happened, and I turn sick at my very heart.’</p> - -<p>She shuddered. They had passed, those two women, through terror enough -to try any mortal nerves, and privations sufficient to exhaust the -strongest frame. It was small marvel that Rénée trembled as she -remembered the past.</p> - -<p>‘Sing, mother,’ she said again; ‘Gaspard was always wont to say that -your songs uplifted his courage.’</p> - -<p>So ‘The Psalm of Strong Confidence’ was chanted once more, the notes of -the woman’s voice filling the place with its rich volume of sound. The -quick blaze had died down, and the dark shades fell across the cavern. -But without, beyond the stooping pines, the sky was brightening. The<a name="page_019" id="page_019"></a> -stars stole out on the deep vault of blue, those glittering stars which -tell through all speech and language that the statutes of the Lord are -true, and that in keeping of them there is great reward.</p> - -<p>And the two women sat, hand in hand, serene in spite of trouble; -content, although they were homeless and hunted on the earth. Nay, just -now they were more than ‘content!’ they could rejoice that they, like -their martyred ancestors, were found worthy to bear the cross of -suffering for their Master’s sake.</p> - -<p>Rénée Janavel was an orphan. Madeleine Botta, the woman she called -‘mother,’ was bound to her not by ties of blood, but by the stronger -ties of love and gratitude. She had inherited a name which was known -throughout the length and breadth of the valleys. Her grandfather, ‘the -hero of Rora,’ Joshua Janavel, had led the patriot bands who battled -against enormous odds in the persecution of 1655 and the few following -years. Her father had been sentenced by the Inquisition, and if he were -not dead, his miserable existence, chained to an oar as a galley-slave, -was worse a hundred times for him than death itself.</p> - -<p>Her young mother had perished in the prisons of Turin, and Rénée, a mere -child when the Duke of Savoy stopped for a time those terrible deeds<a name="page_020" id="page_020"></a> of -blood, had lived always at Rora with the Bottas.</p> - -<p>Madeleine Botta had lost her own daughter, and she had taken Rénée to -her heart instead, loving and cherishing her until the desolate child -almost forgot that Madeleine was not in very truth what she always -called her, ‘her mother.’ And was she not Gaspard’s mother? and were not -Gaspard’s people to be her people? his life, her life? She would have -been Gaspard’s wife at Easter-tide, had not this new time of death and -danger come upon the valleys. Now he was swept off with the fighting -men, none exactly could tell whither; and she was here, hidden in the -rock-ledges, seeking shelter with Madeleine from the ravaging hordes -that had sworn to ‘exterminate the heretics as they would exterminate -all other sorts of noxious beasts.’</p> - -<p>The home at Rora was a heap of ashes; the peaceful days when Rénée drove -the goats down the hill in the shadowy afternoon, or sat busily spinning -the flax at Madeleine’s knee, were gone for ever. There had been -troubles then, of course, but troubles so tiny that now in comparison -they seemed to be positive pleasures.</p> - -<p>Henri Botta, the house-master, was a hard-featured man, whose rare words -were sometimes wont to be hard; he looked on the world as a vale of<a name="page_021" id="page_021"></a> -sighing, a place where evil reigned, and no man should desire to be -happy. Rénée used to shrink from his warning words, and strive to avoid -his grim glances. Now how glad she would have been to have heard the -sound of his voice, or to have seen the outline of his rugged face!</p> - -<p>Then there was Emile, the eldest son, almost as hard and silent as his -father; and even Gaspard had a trick of shutting his lips tightly -together and frowning till his black brows met, when the talk was of the -future or the past.</p> - -<p>But Gaspard had never been hard to Rénée—never. He had been to Turin -learning his trade, a carpenter he was, and the best carpenter, as Rénée -proudly said, in all the commune. He was away for years, for such -delicate work as his is not learned in a hurry, and on his return he -found the child Rénée grown into a fair and gracious maiden, the -realisation of the dreams which had haunted his young manhood.</p> - -<p>And so he loved her, and wooed her, and won her; learning from her -gentleness to unbend his sternness, teaching her girlish heart to be -staunch and earnest.</p> - -<p>They had built and plenished their future home in the simple fashion of -the valley folk. Rénée was already stitching at the wedding gear, and -Madeleine Botta had proudly piled the homespun linen which<a name="page_022" id="page_022"></a> was to be -her marriage gift to the girl who was already as her dear daughter.</p> - -<p>And then—</p> - -<p>But the tale is dark in the telling. One must go back some way in -Europe’s history to understand how such deeds came to be done, how such -devastation fell ever and again on the devoted people of the Vaudois -valleys.<a name="page_023" id="page_023"></a></p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i023_lg.jpg"> -<br /> -<img class="enlargeimage" -src="images/enlarge-image.jpg" -alt="Image not available: " -width="18" -height="14" /> -<br /> -<img src="images/i023_sml.jpg" width="302" height="321" alt="Image not available: RORA." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">RORA.</span> -</div> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">T</span><small>HERE</small> are sad pages in all histories: there are tales in every land the -telling of which must awaken deep feelings of horror. Man’s inhumanity -to man has always been the dark stain upon God’s earth.<a name="page_024" id="page_024"></a></p> - -<p>But no cruelties of the ancient days—not even the ghastly enormities of -Nero or the evil deeds of the ‘dark ages’—can exceed the terror and -trouble, the fiendish works, the rage and oppression which have reigned -in the Vaudois valleys.</p> - -<p>From primitive times those valleys in the Savoy Alps have been the -refuge of Christians who only asked to be allowed to live, harmless and -insignificant, tending their mulberry trees, their vineyards and their -corn; with liberty to serve God according to the simple faith which had -been handed down to them from their fathers. They had books which they -greatly prized,—portions of God’s Word, poems, commentaries, and their -own <i>Noble Lesson</i>. This celebrated book was written or compiled about -the year 1100, in the Romance language,—and in this language they also -possessed the text of the Psalms and several books of the Old and New -Testaments.</p> - -<p>They themselves declared that it was the persecutions of the Roman -emperors which had driven the first Christian settlers to the valleys; -and if it were so the little Church, born of persecution and nourished -by martyrdom, had learned from the first to endure all things as good -soldiers of its Master, Christ.</p> - -<p>From the earliest times there have always been faithful hearts humbly -following the steps of the Lord, seeking, above earthly wealth and weal, -to<a name="page_025" id="page_025"></a> know and to do God’s will. And such there will ever be until the -Master comes again. Evil may seem triumphant, and pride and arrogance -lift prosperous fronts, but the Lord knoweth them that are His, and -there shall never lack a remnant to watch and wait for Him.</p> - -<p>It is not needful to trace in this story the growth of the pomp and -power of the Bishop of Rome, nor to tell at length how the ‘successor’ -of St. Peter ceased to be either humble or faithful. The Empire of the -West had crumbled away, the ancient seat of the Cæsars was empty, and -gradually the bishop became the most important person in the city, -claiming one thread of power after another until the ‘Sovereign Pontiff’ -asserted rule and right over the length and breadth of Christendom.</p> - -<p>It was strange that such pretensions could be based on the Gospel of Him -who took on Himself the form of a servant, and whose first words of -teaching were a blessing on the ‘poor in spirit.’ Perhaps it was partly -a dim consciousness of this that made pope and cardinals wish the people -not to read the writings of the apostles and the words of the Lord.</p> - -<p>But reading in those days was no easy matter.</p> - -<p>Books were scarce and costly. Learning was difficult. The bulk of the -people only heard God’s Word through the mouths of those whose gain it<a name="page_026" id="page_026"></a> -was to suppress and distort its simple teaching. Men and women lived and -died believing that pope and priest could forgive sins and wipe off all -offences, and that a handful of gold pieces could purchase their -entrance into paradise.</p> - -<p>It was through these dark days that the Light of the Truth burned clear -in the hearts and homes of the simple race dwelling on the confines of -Savoy, where the frontier lines of Switzerland and France met on the -white-hill peaks. And this race it was, this ‘nest of heretics,’ that -the Roman power resolved to crush and kill.</p> - -<p>The first persecution that was regularly organised to destroy them root -and branch took place at the end of the twelfth century. In addition to -those slain outright, the number of those carried into captivity was so -great that the Archbishop of Avignon declared that he had ‘so many -prisoners it is impossible not only to defray the charge of their -nourishment, but to get enough lime and stone to build prisons for -them.’</p> - -<p>From this time onwards the history of valleys is one long tale of -persecution. The intervals when ‘the churches had rest, and were -edified,’ were so short that the accounts of suffering and martyrdom -must have been handed down verbally from father to son. Thirty-two -invasions were<a name="page_027" id="page_027"></a> endured, invasions of troops filled with the remorseless -rage of religious fanaticism.</p> - -<p>But it was in the year 1650 that the bitterest storm broke over them. It -was a time of extraordinary ‘religious’ feeling, and councils were -established in Turin and other cities, having for their object the -spread of the Romish faith and the utter extirpation of heretics. The -plan on which they worked was just the old barbarous way of force and -fire, and the worst weapon of all, treachery.</p> - -<p>Once again the Vaudois fled before the soldiers hired to butcher them. -The caves and dens of the rocks, the mountain passes filled with snows -that April suns had no power to melt, the natural fastnesses and -citadels of the hills—these were the places to which the villagers -escaped. And as they went they were lighted by the blaze of their -burning homesteads, and followed by the shrieks and groans of the weak -and their helpless defenders, whom the ruthless murderers overtook, -tortured and slew.</p> - -<p>It was then that Janavel of Rora came to the front. He had but six men -with him when he first made a stand on the heights above Villaro, where -the mountain track leads over the Collina di Rabbi to Rora. He lay in -ambush, resolved to do what he could to stop the foreign soldiers from -ravaging his home, and in his desperate mood he had no thought<a name="page_028" id="page_028"></a> save to -sell his life as dearly as he could: what could seven men do against -hundreds?</p> - -<p>But in that narrow place seven men could do much. The simultaneous -discharge of their muskets threw the soldiers into confusion. No enemy -was to be seen; the troops could not be sure that those rocks and trees -did not shelter scores of Vaudois. They faltered, then fell back.</p> - -<p>Again the musket-balls came crashing from the hill-side. It was more -than hired courage could stand! The troops of Savoy turned and fled, -leaving sixty or seventy of their number dead on the ground.</p> - -<p>They fled only to return. The next day six hundred picked men ascended -the mountain by the Cassutee, a wider, more practicable path. But here -also Janavel was ready for them. He had now gathered eighteen herdsmen, -some armed with muskets and pistols, but the greater number having only -slings and flint stones, which they knew very well how to use. Their -ambush was well chosen. The column advanced, only to be assailed flank -and front with a shower of balls and stones. Again this invisible foe -was too much for them to stand. They thought only of escaping from the -fatal defile; once more Janavel was victorious.</p> - -<p>The Marquis of Pianezza, the Savoy leader, was <a name="page_029" id="page_029"></a>furious at these -repulses. He hastily collected his whole force, sending for his -lieutenant, the impetuous and cruel Mario, to bring up the rear-guard, -together with some bands of Irish mercenaries, who were specially fit -for dashing and dangerous service. Rora should surely be carried this -time! Every soul there should rue the hour in which they had dared to -oppose Pianezza!</p> - -<p>But Janavel and his heroes were armed with a strength on which the foe -had little calculated. For the third time victory rested with the weak. -For the third time the soldiers were driven down the mountain-slopes, -hurling one another to destruction in their mad flight.</p> - -<p>But this could not last for ever. Eight thousand soldiers and two -thousand popish peasants were marched on Rora, and this time the work of -death was done.</p> - -<p>Janavel and his friends, who had been decoyed to a distance from the -village, escaped with their lives, and for many weeks they carried on -the struggle, only to be beaten at last, overpowered by numbers. But the -name of Janavel was reverenced far and wide as that of a good man, ‘bold -as a lion, meek as a lamb,’ rendering to God alone the praise of his -victories, dauntless in his faith and love, while tried as few are -tried. His wife and daughter had fallen into the hands of -Pianezza,—spared for the time<a name="page_030" id="page_030"></a> from the massacre at Rora; a letter from -the general reached Janavel, offering him his life, and their lives, if -he would abjure his heresy, but threatening him with death and his dear -ones with being burnt alive if he persisted in his resistance. ‘We are -in God’s hands,’ answered Janavel; ‘our bodies may die by your means, -but our souls will serve Him by the grace that He gives to us. Tempt me -no more.’</p> - -<p>And much the same he wrote thirty years after, when he and Pastor Arnaud -planned the Glorious Return.</p> - -<p>It was no marvel that Rénée, Gaspard Botta’s betrothed wife, blushed as -she spoke of fear. The blood of her heroic grandsire ran in her veins. -She too could trust in God, and for His sake endure.</p> - -<p>There was a time of peace after that terrible persecution. The whole of -Protestant Europe had remonstrated against the cruelties and horrors -that had taken place. Oliver Cromwell, then governing England, sent an -ambassador to Turin to enforce, if possible, his indignant demand for -mercy. Holland, Switzerland, the German Protestant powers, and even a -large number of French subjects, all sent messengers to the Duke of -Savoy. And they sent also large sums—more than a million francs—to -relieve the most pressing necessities of the homeless and the -destitute.<a name="page_031" id="page_031"></a></p> - -<p>The Duke of Savoy died, and under the rule of his son, Victor Amadeus -II., the Vaudois had some years of peace. They showed their gratitude -for this forbearance by loyally defending the frontier against the -Genoese, and by eagerly helping to quell the banditti infesting the -mountain passes. They sought to prove, with a devotion that borders upon -pathos, that they also could be good subjects, that their allegiance to -their God only heightened their loyalty to their sovereign.</p> - -<p>It was then that Rénée Janavel sang as she sewed the long seams in the -linen store that her foster-mother had spun. It was then that Gaspard -would whistle as his plane cut through the white plank, and the shavings -fell, silky and shining, about his feet.</p> - -<p>Even the grim house-master would let the suspicion of a smile lurk under -the straight moustache of iron-grey that almost hid his lips. He could -remember the times of terror—oh, yes, he could remember them only too -well!—but ferns and wreaths of mauve auricula were now growing about -the ruins that had then been made so fearsome; and the mulberries were -flourishing again; and it was a comfort to see Mother Madeleine about -and well after her sharp attack of fever a year or two ago; and Emile -and Gaspard had grown sturdy and<a name="page_032" id="page_032"></a> strong—the finest young men in all -Rora; and Rénée—the child—was always singing when she was not -laughing: what a gay, sweet heart it was, to be sure! And, all things -considered, it was no marvel that Henri Botta now and then forgot all -the ghastly doings of the past, and let a smile dawn upon his lips or -glimmer in his eyes.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i032_lg.jpg"> -<br /> -<img class="enlargeimage" -src="images/enlarge-image.jpg" -alt="Image not available: " -width="18" -height="14" /> -<br /> -<img src="images/i032_sml.jpg" width="226" height="252" alt="Image not available: GASPARD AND RÉNÉE." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">GASPARD AND RÉNÉE.</span> -</div> - -<p>‘Shall it be in the spring time, dear?’ Gaspard said, as he stood in the -house that his hands had<a name="page_033" id="page_033"></a> builded for his bride, and let his glance rest -lovingly on her bright face. ‘Say, dear, shall we light our fire on this -hearth when the snows melt on Mount Friolent, and the flowers bloom -under the hedges yonder?’</p> - -<p>If she did not answer him in words, he was nevertheless well contented. -And it was settled that so it should be: for not even the neighbours -could disapprove of such a marriage. Were not the two born for each -other? he so strong and dark and staunch, and she so fair and sweet! And -was not Gaspard the best workman in the commune, with his earnings all -safely saved since he came back from Turin?</p> - -<p>Why should there not be a marriage procession along the stream-side to -the little white-walled church when the flowers bloomed? Why not, -indeed? And wide and long should be the festive wreaths woven of those -very flowers to do honour to the grandchild of the hero Janavel.</p> - -<p>It was the close of the year 1685. There had been twenty years of -freedom in the valleys—twenty calm years of liberty and peace. The -horrid sounds of massacre had died away before Rénée was old enough to -remember, before Gaspard was old enough to understand. And so they -looked into one another’s eyes, and thought that life and love and earth -and heaven were smiling on their troth.<a name="page_034" id="page_034"></a></p> - -<p>But far away, beyond the French Alps, beyond the vineyards of Burgundy -and the Lyonais, an old man sat in his splendid palace, a wretched and -restless man, who had something to say to the plans and the promises of -the simple folk in the Savoy valleys.</p> - -<p>For he was King Louis XIV., Louis, surnamed the Great, Louis, the -husband of the bigot Françoise de Maintenon, trying in his old age of -repentance to atone for the guilt of a misspent life. Madame de -Maintenon hated heretics as her cold, calculating heart hated nothing -else; and she loved the approval and the flattery of her courtier -priests far more than she loved the king.</p> - -<p>‘Revoke the edicts giving liberty to the Protestants, sire,’ she said to -her husband. ‘Crush heresy, and so purchase your peace with God.’</p> - -<p>Louis listened. He was aged and ailing; his sons were dead; his -friends—such friends as he had—were dead too. He also must soon appear -before the Throne that was greater even than the glories of his own. It -was time he hearkened to the promptings of the Church. Popes and priests -must know best about these things; he would do their bidding, and do it -thoroughly, as a king should!</p> - -<p>So the edicts were revoked throughout the land of France. All the civil -rights of his subjects<a name="page_035" id="page_035"></a> belonging to the Reformed faith were taken away. -The heretics must be converted, or go, or die.</p> - -<p>Thus he ordered.</p> - -<p>And even then, not quite content, he forced his neighbour, the young -Duke of Savoy, to do likewise. To the valleys also the persecution -should extend.</p> - -<p class="cbt">. -. . . . . . .</p> - -<p>And Gaspard set his teeth hard as he brightened up his father’s sword; -and Rénée’s tears fell fast as she folded away the snowy linen she had -bleached so fair.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i035_lg.jpg"> -<br /> -<img class="enlargeimage" -src="images/enlarge-image.jpg" -alt="Image not available: " -width="18" -height="14" /> -<br /> -<img src="images/i035_sml.jpg" width="197" height="196" alt="Image not available: GASPARD SHARPENING HIS SWORD." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">GASPARD SHARPENING HIS SWORD.</span> -</div> - -<p>When the violets bloomed in the hedges long processions passed that were -different indeed from<a name="page_036" id="page_036"></a> marriage-trains. Trumpet-calls and the tramp of -troops echoed from the hills and rocks; and the white walls of the -church had been splashed with crimson, and were now blackened with fire.</p> - -<p>Once more Rome had sent her ‘terror’ to the valleys. Once more faith was -to be tried to the death, and steadfast souls to win their martyr -crowns.<a name="page_037" id="page_037"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i037_lg.jpg"> -<br /> -<img class="enlargeimage" -src="images/enlarge-image.jpg" -alt="Image not available: " -width="18" -height="14" /> -<br /> -<img src="images/i037_sml.jpg" width="216" height="161" alt="Image not available: " /></a> -</div> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">V</span><small>ICTOR</small> A<small>MADEUS</small> did not obey King Louis without a struggle. He was -content with his Vaudois subjects; they were industrious and -law-abiding, and they were a valuable defence against invasion from the -west, and a check upon the bandits of the Alps. Why should he harry and -hunt them forth to soothe the sore conscience of that tyrannical old man -in Versailles?</p> - -<p>But the French ambassador put the matter in a<a name="page_038" id="page_038"></a> light which speedily -convinced Victor Amadeus. His master, he said, King Louis, had resolved -that heresy should be stamped utterly out. He would send an army to the -Savoy valleys, an army quite strong enough to accomplish the purpose. -The Duke of Savoy need not trouble himself at all. The work should be -done, and thoroughly done, by the French alone, but—and the addition -had a strong and grave significance—but the King of France would retain -the Piedmont valleys for his trouble!</p> - -<p>What could Duke Victor say? These Vaudois, after all, were heretics; his -own father had done exactly what King Louis was now urging upon him to -do; hesitation might be another name for lukewarmness in a holy cause. -And at all risks he must avoid giving Louis an excuse for making good -his footing on the soil of Savoy.</p> - -<p>Therefore the proclamation was signed.</p> - -<p>A terrible proclamation it was. It ordained complete cessation of every -religious service, save that of the Romish faith; the immediate -destruction of the churches; the banishment of the pastors, and the -baptism of every child by Romish priests, who were henceforth to educate -and control all young people.</p> - -<p>The punishment for disobeying or evading this edict was death.<a name="page_039" id="page_039"></a></p> - -<p>Dismay entered all hearts. Rome was once more to whet her savage sword. -And the mountaineers, helpless, defenceless, could only die, since -submission to such edicts could not be.</p> - -<p>They remembered 1655, and the way in which a handful of men had beaten -back Pianezza and his hordes.</p> - -<p>The courage that had nerved Janavel and his heroes was still alight in -the valleys. They too would fight for their homes and their churches, -for the honour of their wives, for the faith of their little ones.</p> - -<p>So entrenchments were thrown up in the ravines, and turf and rough -stones piled up on every point of vantage; stores were hastily -collected, and the corn-stacks were threshed out. The women did their -part; even the children were busy as bees.</p> - -<p>Henri Botta heard the careless laughter of a string of boys and girls as -they ran up the steps of the mill, carrying each one a burden of wheat -or rye, and his grave face grew sterner still as he harkened.</p> - -<p>‘Little they know! little they know!’ he muttered in his beard. ‘Laugh! -‘tis the last laughter that will sound in Luserna for many and many a -day.’</p> - -<p>The horrors of the months that followed cannot<a name="page_040" id="page_040"></a> here be told. Is it not -an awful thing that men have committed atrocities of which one cannot -speak—that living bodies and tortured souls have borne what our ears -cannot suffer to hear—what our minds cannot endure to conceive? Frail -women, modest and gentle girls, the babies too young to know the terror -of the sword that slew them, the old men whose white hairs were but -signals for scoff and insult—all these helpless ones were the butt and -playthings of the brutal soldiers, whose most merciful dealing was -death. Aye, happy were those whose doom was <i>only</i> death!</p> - -<p>Botta and his two sons fought at the barricade which crossed the road -above Casiana. Emile was amongst the first to fall. His father saw him -stagger, and rushed forward to his help; but, as he reached upwards to -where Emile lay on the ridge of the earthwork, a second ball crashed -into the prostrate figure. The boy was shot through the heart.</p> - -<p>‘Let him lie there,’ muttered Botta, with a quietude more sad than -tears. ‘Let him lie there, on the crest of the barricade. Even in death -he shall defend the valleys.’</p> - -<p>Yet the heroism and devotion so lavishly poured out in those days and -weeks of struggle were in vain. Once more the valleys were swept from -north to<a name="page_041" id="page_041"></a> south, from the Palavas Alps to the Po River—once more the -red flames raged and triumphed above the cottage roofs; and over the -fields, and by the swift torrent water, the flying people were hunted -down and slain.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>It was the end of April, 1686. The home of the Bottas was a blackened -heap of ruin; the orchards, where the tufts of pink apple-blossom should -be already showing, were hacked and hewed away, and the down-trodden -vines lay in long trailing lines amid the wrecks of the village.</p> - -<p>A few soldiers lounged and laughed in their encampments hard by; they -were roasting a goat that they had shot for their supper, and their rude -jokes as they did so roused noisy mirth. Their task of blood and cruelty -had brutalized them to a degree hard to believe, did not one know how -low human nature can fall when riot and licence cut away the cords of -gentleness and justice, and the blood-thirst is awakened—that thirst -which men share with the tigers.</p> - -<p>Henri, the house-master, was gone from Rora; where, none could tell, for -the Vaudois troops had been scattered like clouds before the tempest. -Gaspard had come back alone, creeping up the passes in the night, -hiding, and groping his<a name="page_042" id="page_042"></a> dangerous way, to find out what had befallen -his mother and Rénée.</p> - -<p>He knew every nook and crevice of the ridges that rose grim and almost -inaccessible between the ravine and Villaro; somewhere hereabouts he -hoped to find them, unless—indeed——</p> - -<p>And the young man’s haggard eyes gleamed with the look that it is ill to -see on mortal face as he counted out what that ‘unless’ might mean.</p> - -<p>His search was long, and his heart grew heavier hour by hour. Perhaps -they had already been driven off to prison in Turin; or, perhaps—and if -he were not to find them Gaspard knew that he ought to pray that it -might be so—perhaps they had already joined Emile in the land where -fighting and desolation and death is over for ever, where God Himself -will give comfort and the calmness of His peace.</p> - -<p>The dawn was breaking, the glad, sweet dawn of the spring morning, and -Gaspard slowly dragged himself beneath the shelter of the pines. He must -not stand there, exposed, under those shafts of clear, keen light, -unless he were willing to take his chance of a musket-ball from the -duke’s soldiers, whose orders were to clear the country as a broom -sweeps over a floor.</p> - -<p>There was a cavern here, up under the cliff, a<a name="page_043" id="page_043"></a> place where he might lie -and rest, and eat the crust of bread he carried in his wallet. -Rest—food—they were sorely needed, yet he felt as though rest were -impossible, and food would choke him.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i043_lg.jpg"> -<br /> -<img class="enlargeimage" -src="images/enlarge-image.jpg" -alt="Image not available: " -width="18" -height="14" /> -<br /> -<img src="images/i043_sml.jpg" width="229" height="269" alt="Image not available: GASPARD AT THE CAVE." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">GASPARD AT THE CAVE.</span> -</div> - -<p>He lifted the ivy trails and stood a moment, peering into the dimness. -These mountain caves held strange creatures now and then.</p> - -<p>From out of the darkness came a sudden cry.<a name="page_044" id="page_044"></a></p> - -<p>‘O Gaspard, O Gaspard! is it thou?’</p> - -<p>He staggered. He was worn and faint, and just at that moment the hope -was dim of finding those he sought. His brain whirled round; he put his -hand to his eyes, bewildered.</p> - -<p>Then a woman’s arms reached out to him, and confused words, and little -cries of joy, and short sobs came in broken gusts and silences.</p> - -<p>‘Gaspard! Oh, thanks be to God! Thou art living then, Gaspard! Mother, -mother, awake! here is he, our Gaspard.’ And Rénée clung to him and hid -her face against his breast.</p> - -<p>They were safe then, as yet! And his voice came back to him as he knelt -to kiss his mother’s hand and cheek. Ah, the swords of the duke were -sharp, the desolation of the valleys was drear, the house-father was an -exile, and Emile lay in his gory grave; but an offering of heartfelt -praise went up to God’s throne as the re-united ones held each other’s -hands and thanked the Lord that day.</p> - -<p>There was much to hear on either side, and the women’s faces grew very -grave when Gaspard told them what had happened in the valleys of Luserna -and Angrogna. Cannon and cavalry had been too much for the mountaineers -in the villages and on the roads, and treachery had beguiled them from -the entrenchments on the heights to which they had<a name="page_045" id="page_045"></a> fled. The Savoy -general had offered, in the duke’s name, safe and honourable treatment -for themselves, their wives, and children, if they would throw -themselves on their conquerer’s clemency. The words were fair, the terms -all they dared expect. They trusted the promise and laid down their -arms.</p> - -<p>How their trust was betrayed is a long and shameful tale. Some were led -in chains to the fortresses of the plains, some were executed then and -there, many were destroyed by the brutal soldiers, and two thousand -little children were handed over to Roman Catholic families to be -trained in that religion.</p> - -<p>Thus it was that Victor Amadeus conquered—for the same thing had -occurred in all the valleys, although Gaspard only knew what had -happened near at home. Perosa and San Martino had been treated with like -barbarity and deceit. The scenes at the rocks of Vadolin were to the -full as heart-rending as what Gaspard could describe.</p> - -<p>‘And thy father?’ Madeleine’s eyes asked the question which her lips -could scarcely frame. ‘Thy father, what of him?’</p> - -<p>Gaspard rose to his feet and leant against the rock where the dark -cave-shadow almost hid his countenance.</p> - -<p>‘Ah,’ he said, ‘I have been well-nigh torn in<a name="page_046" id="page_046"></a> twain betwixt my desire -to find you, to know that thou and Rénée were out of the clutches of -yon——’</p> - -<p>‘Name them not, my son,’ said Madeleine; ‘hard words hurt only the heart -from which they come.’</p> - -<p>‘Words? Aye, it is not with words I would meet them!’ the young man said -between his teeth.</p> - -<p>‘And thy father?’</p> - -<p>‘He is wounded. He was thrust at with a lance when trying to defend -Marie Rozel. You remember old Marie? the widow who gave us goat’s milk -when we were lost in the hill-mist long ago, Emile and I, and -Rénée—thou wert a tiny child then, Rénée. They—well, they killed her -at last, in spite of all that my father could do.’</p> - -<p>‘Where is he?’ Madeleine Botta had come close to her son and was holding -his arm. ‘Oh, Gaspard, ill, wounded as he is, surely he is not alone? -Let us go to him.’</p> - -<p>‘Mother, to cross the valley, to go down by the river in broad -daylight—it is death, certain death, or worse. Nay, I will creep back -to him, and bring him word how you fare. He will revive when once he -knows that you and Rénée are safe. It was to get news for him that I am -come. But how have you lived here? Have you food? fire?’</p> - -<p>So they showed him their store, the bag of rye-bread<a name="page_047" id="page_047"></a> Rénée had stolen -down to Rora to fetch from a secret hiding-place; the dried grapes, the -chestnuts, the flour—which last was useless, since they dared not light -a fire; and then, stepping forward, the girl called softly once and -again. Presently two or three goats came pushing their way through the -ivy, rustling beneath the glossy leaves, and nodding their sage sharp -heads as they came.</p> - -<p>‘The others have been killed, I suppose,’ said Rénée sadly; ‘but these -give us milk enough and to spare.’</p> - -<p>Gaspard watched her as she stroked the creatures that were pressing -against her knees. All dumb things seemed ready to love Rénée, and it -was no wonder.</p> - -<p>Madeleine sat silently. Her heart was full; her lips were quivering; the -iron was entering her very soul. God had required much from her—her -happy home, the quiet contentment of her failing years; then the life of -Emile, her eldest born; and now Henri, the husband of her youth, her -strong Henri, was stricken. Was his life to be taken too?</p> - -<p>This woman had come of a race of martyrs: she had been cradled in -terror, and reared amongst dangers and blood-spilling. She knew, none -better, what it meant to take up Christ’s cross and follow Him along the -path that leads to where the shadow<a name="page_048" id="page_048"></a> lies across the shining Threshold. -Her nature was brave, as befitted a child of the hills; her soul was -filled with a high and sacred faith that had been lighted by God’s -Gospel and nourished by His grace.</p> - -<p>But now, there, in the cavern, the grief, the pity, the despair of it -well-nigh overcame her.</p> - -<p>‘O Lord, how long, how long? Must Thy people be outcasts for ever? for -ever down-trodden and slain? Canst Thou not hear in heaven Thy -dwelling-place, and when Thou hearest wilt Thou not aid?’</p> - -<p>Just now, in her hour of agony and sore dismay, she was too near to pain -to see its glorious crown, too close to the shadow of death to behold -the shining gate. Not only for her and hers that crown and shining -should be, but for ever unto the uttermost ages the Church of Christ is -fairer for what then the Vaudois bore! Not a tear nor drop of martyr -blood fell then unmarked, for not only on earth but in heaven is the -death of God’s saints held ‘right dear.’<a name="page_049" id="page_049"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i049_lg.jpg"> -<br /> -<img class="enlargeimage" -src="images/enlarge-image.jpg" -alt="Image not available: " -width="18" -height="14" /> -<br /> -<img src="images/i049_sml.jpg" width="134" height="175" alt="Image not available: " /></a> -</div> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">R</span><small>ENEE</small>, if God gives me life, I will return; I will return here to thee.’</p> - -<p>So said Gaspard Botta as he parted from his promised wife in the cavern -on the cliff.</p> - -<p>He had stayed long enough to gather them a store of wood and firing. He -had even crept down in the darkness to the ruined home, and, with the -silent hunter-craft of his nation, had managed to evade the Savoy -soldiers while he loaded himself with things which he knew his mother -and Rénée must need.</p> - -<p>A dangerous service—yes, but existence was just one long course of -danger in those months to the Vaudois.</p> - -<p>Madeleine had urged him to go back to his father.<a name="page_050" id="page_050"></a> She herself would -have chosen to dare all things, and go also. To stay in that cliff-cage, -hiding in silence, with no knowledge of how it fared with her nearest -and dearest, would be a terrible strain and trial; the risks of crossing -the Luserna valley and the heights of Roussina and Mount Vandalin, -watched as they were by the duke’s troops, would be as nothing compared -with the waiting and the longing for news there in the cave.</p> - -<p>But Gaspard, who had threaded the passes and forded the torrents swelled -with melting snows, who had doubled and dived and scrambled like the -hunted thing that he was, implored her to stay in the comparative safety -of their hiding-place.</p> - -<p>‘It is far to where I left him,’ he said; ‘out there below La Vachère. -And if thou didst reach him, mother, they would but tear thee from his -side. The men were driven off in gangs to Luserna, and the women——’ -He paused, and the dark look came again into his face. ‘The women were -taken too, some of them, and the little ones—— Oh, mother, be -satisfied! rest here, thou and Rénée, and if God pleases to hear my -prayer I will come again, and bring my father, should I carry him on my -shoulders.’</p> - -<p>And so he left them; and for days, and yet again for days, they watched -and waited for his coming<a name="page_051" id="page_051"></a> back across the torrent, and round by the -huge rocks that rose sharp and sheer from the water to the fringes of -the pines. But they waited in vain.</p> - -<p>And as the time wore on they saw from their point of vantage that the -soldiers had left Rora, or only scoured the land at intervals; and Rénée -ventured down from time to time to the desolated village, filling her -basket with such fruits and food that the ruthless robbers had chanced -to spare. Seeking, too, if there might be other fugitives perhaps more -helpless and terror-stricken than themselves—to whom Madeleine and she -could give a word of cheer or hand of help.</p> - -<p>And so the spring deepened into summer, and the skies were stainless -blue above them; and the sunlight of many blossoms shone over the grass; -the pines shook their yellow dust in clouds into the scented air; and -the brooms opened their dry seed-pods with sharp reports, as of fairy -artillery.</p> - -<p>It was hard to believe that only so few weeks ago human lives had been -sobbed out in agony—there in that beautiful world—and that rage and -cruelty had wrought their worst wickedness in the sacred name of Christ.</p> - -<p>So quiet was it, that at last the two women went back to Rora, finding -shelter amongst the ruins of what had once been their home. One or two -other<a name="page_052" id="page_052"></a> hunted and bereaved ones crept back also, like them waiting for -news, hoping still in their faithful hearts that better times would -come, and those so dear to them would be delivered from the jaws of -death.</p> - -<p>Rénée would look wistfully northward and westward, where the great -violet peaks rose into the summer sky. Would Gaspard come that day? the -next? Deferred hope that maketh the heart sick was heavy upon her; she -longed to find her way down the valley to the outer world, and learn for -herself what had befallen. Inaction and waiting were the hardest of -trials to this girl, child of the mountain as she was.</p> - -<p>Patience, Rénée! The time for doing will come. The blood of heroes does -not flow uselessly in your young veins; ‘to do’ comes by nature to -hearts like yours; ‘to wait’ is a lesson taught by care Divine.</p> - -<p>Some stray reports penetrated even to the far recesses of this valley, -the most southern of all the Vaudois dwelling-places. Some wandering -folk would come from Vigne or Villaro, outcasts like themselves, whom -they might question. Any well-to-do traveller, any body of men, any -strangers who looked happy and well-fed, must be avoided and hidden -from, for they would certainly prove to be enemies, who considered all -the Vaudois to be under<a name="page_053" id="page_053"></a> the ban of the Church, and therefore to be -driven to a Luserna prison, or hunted down and slain.</p> - -<p>But from one and another the story was brokenly gathered—the story of -what had chanced beyond the hills, and what sort of measure the duke had -dealt to his conquered people.</p> - -<p>Exile. That had been the final decree.</p> - -<p>The Vaudois were to be driven out; their hills should harbour heretics -no more. Once and for all Savoy should be cleared from them and their -doctrine. As Louis had purified the soil of France, so Victor Amadeus -would purge Piedmont.</p> - -<p>The prisons were to be emptied. The twelve thousand men, women, and -children shut up in the several fortresses must go. To Switzerland, -since the Swiss would receive them—but across the Alps, and out of the -valleys at any cost, and any whither.</p> - -<p>Twelve thousand? Could there really be so many? Henri Botta and his son -Gustave were amongst that great and dreary company.</p> - -<p>The sentence fell on the hearts of those two women like a leaden weight.</p> - -<p>They, too, must go to Switzerland.</p> - -<p>That was the resolve that grew strong in each before they dared to say -the words one to the other. They were silently counting the miles,<a name="page_054" id="page_054"></a> the -mountains, the dangers that lay between them and the country where their -dear ones had been driven. And each dreaded the objections which the -other might urge.</p> - -<p>‘But, Rénée,’ Madeleine Botta held out her withered hands imploringly, -and her sunken eyes were moist as she spoke—‘Rénée, we must go to them, -since it may not be that they can come to us.’</p> - -<p>The girl’s face shone with the swift up-leaping of the hope that was -strong in her.</p> - -<p>‘Yes, mother, we will go; and God will lead us safely through!’ was her -answer, spoken with the fervent simple faith that had sprung strongly up -in Vaudois hearts under that red-rain of martyr blood.</p> - -<p>But not yet was the ‘leading’ to come.<a name="page_055" id="page_055"></a></p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i055_lg.jpg"> -<br /> -<img class="enlargeimage" -src="images/enlarge-image.jpg" -alt="Image not available: " -width="18" -height="14" /> -<br /> -<img src="images/i055_sml.jpg" width="236" height="226" alt="Image not available: MADELEINE AND RENEE STOPPED." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">MADELEINE AND RENEE STOPPED.</span> -</div> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">T</span><small>HEY</small> set out, their bundles on their shoulders, walking openly in the -daylight without attempt at disguise; seeking, it is true, the less -frequented paths, and avoiding observation as much as possible. They -were so inoffensive, so insignificant, this woman and her foster-child; -surely few would notice them or hinder them—now that the bitterness of -the persecution had died down.</p> - -<p>Sorrowfully were they mistaken.</p> - -<p>They had not lost sight of the white ridge of<a name="page_056" id="page_056"></a> Mount Friolent, nor -crested the pass leading toward Villaro, before they were stopped and -questioned by a band of preaching friars who were busy establishing -their churches and schools in the country whence ‘the heretics’ had been -driven.</p> - -<p>Madeleine’s courage rose with the first hint of danger. She had no idea -of softening or disguising anything, and answered back so dauntlessly -that Rénée’s cheeks grew white as she listened; though the girl herself -had no lack of truth nor of courage. Words are in these -nineteenth-century days little else than easily stirred air; to those -defenceless ones just then they meant all the difference betwixt life -and death.</p> - -<p>The friars consulted together and shook their cowled heads, looking not -unlike birds of prey gloating over some poor trapped wild thing. They -said that the women were firebrands, and far too dangerous to be allowed -to go through the land—that the duke allowed none of the so-called -Reformed religion to dwell or pass in Piedmont; and that Mistress Botta -and the girl must travel in their company to Luserna, ‘where further -decisions would be arrived at.’</p> - -<p>That night the two women found means of escape. They gained the open -air, the hills, the steep and intricate ways known only to the people of -the<a name="page_057" id="page_057"></a> valleys; and presently, after some days of wandering, they found -themselves once more in their cavern. The tears rolled down Rénée’s -cheeks as she entered—it was present safety, indeed, but must they -still wait there, and watch for the footsteps that might never come—for -the news which seemed further from them than ever?</p> - -<p>Then Madeleine fell sick. Some slow fever consumed her; and for days and -nights she lay so ill that Rénée could find no place in her thoughts for -aught but ‘mother.’ And when at last she seemed to revive somewhat, and -her wandering reason returned to her, she was so exceeding weak and -frail that the girl feared she would die from very weariness.</p> - -<p>It was hard to get necessaries, harder still to obtain the food fitted -for a sick woman’s needs, but Rénée never flagged nor faltered all -through that terrible time.</p> - -<p>She drove the straying goats from the mountain, that her mother might -have draughts of their milk; she managed to make charcoal of her store -of dry wood, and that so carefully that no volume of smoke or flame -could betray their hiding-place. She ran down to the valley for the few -bunches of grapes which might yet be left on the broken and neglected -vines; and once, but only once, she dared to enter<a name="page_058" id="page_058"></a> the village of -Rumero, where she bartered her own long silver chain for a warm coverlet -for Madeleine.</p> - -<p>And the autumn came, and the winter. And the icicles had been hung -across their cave, and the raging winds had careered there, while the -avalanches thundered amongst the higher Alps, and the sunsets lay -crimson on the bosom of the snows. Then came the creeping warmth and the -blessing of the spring, and the sick woman revived, as did the flowers -where the sunshine made glory on the springing grass.</p> - -<p>Madeleine Botta rose from her rock bed almost as hale as ever, and her -voice had scarcely lost anything of its fulness when she sang that -evening hymn, the ‘Psalm of Strong Confidence.’</p> - -<p>But Rénée, as the light grew longer and the sweet benediction of the -year stole over the frost-held earth, as the swollen streams leapt -laughing down amongst the flowers, and the song-birds called in music -one to the other, Rénée grew silent and sad.</p> - -<p>Life would be easier now. Her mother was in no danger of death or -suffering. There would be little to do up there in their cliff cave. -Little to do but to wait.</p> - -<p>Ah, and the waiting time is the hardest time to such hearts as that of -Rénée Janavel.<a name="page_059" id="page_059"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">G</span><small>ASPARD</small> B<small>OTTA</small> was not one to be easily baffled or beaten; he was young, -with muscles of iron and thews as of steel, and he had, moreover, the -caution and resource of a hunter, the endurance and the keen eyesight of -a mountaineer.</p> - -<p>His faith was the faith of his fathers, and for it he would die, -readily, unshrinkingly, as his fathers died in the terrible days of the -past, and as he had himself seen his countrymen die here, in every -hamlet, and by every hearth and home.</p> - -<p>But of the actual love of God he knew but very little.</p> - -<p>He had meant to do his duty. He had prayed a soldier’s prayers, and he -had trusted that help Divine would come to him, as it had done to -others; to such men as Janavel, and Laurene, and Jayer, men who had -gloriously fought in defence of the valleys, and whose names would live -while Vaudois hearts yet beat.</p> - -<p>But some glimpse of a faith better than this came<a name="page_060" id="page_060"></a> to him as he left his -mother and Rénée in the cave that day.</p> - -<p>He could not have put the feeling into words; he scarcely knew when or -why, but as he took his lonely way towards the mountains of Angrogna, a -sense of God’s presence came over him—a searching, demanding -presence—a power and a gentleness that asked, not only for his life, -but also for his love.</p> - -<p>There was the hoarse note of pain ringing through the valleys, the -boundless pain of desolation and distress. Why, then, should such -thoughts come to him, one of those smitten ones who had suffered, and -who yet must suffer? Gentleness—love? surely here on the south slopes -of the Alps there was in those terrible years more evidence of the -outpouring of God’s wrath!</p> - -<p>But into the young man’s soul there stole some glimpse of the Light that -shineth in darkness, of the Love that is behind all wrath, of the Joy -that is greater than pain. Not suddenly, but softly and sweetly, even as -the spring-time comes upon the coldness and dumbness of the -winter-world. He was only a herdsman’s son, and his carpentering trade -had left him little leisure even for such poor scholarly lore as -penetrated to the valleys, but he had heard of One who had also been an -outcast, hunted, and done to death; of One whose days were<a name="page_061" id="page_061"></a> days of -suffering, and whose nights were spent in lonely watchings beneath the -stars.</p> - -<p>And the remembrance of that One came to him now in his own lonely vigil. -The Master who had wandered on the Syrian hills, who had stood silent -before murderous men; and in heaven, from the great white height of His -glorious throne, He yet feels for His brethren who, through great -tribulation, are pressing to His feet.</p> - -<p>Gaspard understood things better now. There <i>was</i> love, and there was -gentleness, in spite of the sharpness of that cry of human pain. And -Gaspard knelt mute upon the hill-side, with a look upon his face that -had never before rested there, a look too full of love for fear, and yet -which was too near to awe to take the semblance of gladness.</p> - -<p>It seemed to him as though he knelt with his whole soul bare before the -glance of God.</p> - -<p>The days that followed were full of excitement, anxiety, and trouble. -His father had been taken to Luserna, together with all the rest of the -valley folk, and there Gaspard followed. It was rather like a lamb -searching the den of a wolf, this going into the very stronghold of the -Papists; but Gaspard had no thought of evading the duke’s troops now. -His first duty was to find his father, to tend him, if so it might be; -and to carry to him the news of the<a name="page_062" id="page_062"></a> safety of those two women—news -which would go far, so Gaspard guessed, to calm the fever left by that -Savoyard lance-thrust.</p> - -<p>It was easy to find a way to the interior of the prison, for Gaspard had -only to declare that he too was a Vaudois when he was seized and flung -into the fortress already full to overflowing with his wretched -countrymen; and amongst that pitiful host was his father.</p> - -<p>The horrors of that imprisonment will never be fully known now. An old -writer says that the Vaudois perished by hundreds of hunger, thirst, and -the festering of neglected wounds. Their bread was rough and filled with -rubbish, their water was impure and insufficient. The places of the -dead—numbers dying every day—were filled with fresh prisoners; the -intense heat of summer, the throng of sick and suffering ones, and the -crowded state of every corner of the dungeons, made a mass of evil too -horrible for recital.</p> - -<p>Was not this harder to be borne than were the savage swords of the -soldiery, than the fighting at the barricades, than even the brutal -insults of victorious foes? For in the past there had at least been the -clear air of heaven, and the heart-stirring of struggle; now there -seemed only the blankness of noisome despair.<a name="page_063" id="page_063"></a></p> - -<p>What was it that Henri Botta’s parched lips were murmuring as he lay in -uneasy sleep across Gaspard’s knees? The young man bent to listen, and -the broken words he caught were of peace and of beauty, of rest for the -weary ones, of the waters of comfort, and the loving-kindness of God.</p> - -<p>The old herdsman’s rugged nature had also found some trace of gentleness -and love amid all this chaos of dismay.</p> - -<p>‘It must be that the Lord Himself is pitiful,’ thought Gaspard, ‘and He -Himself sends comfort to such as are sore stricken.’</p> - -<p>Over and over again did that thought return as he watched frail women -rise triumphant above the power of pain, and men—just the rude and -untaught peasants of the hills—meeting insult with dignity, and outrage -with a smile.</p> - -<p>‘Be of good cheer, my children,’ said one, an aged pastor from Angrogna, -‘our Master bore shame and death for our sakes, and shall we shrink from -sharing the glory of His cross? Rather thank Him that such as we, the -simple valley-folk, are reckoned worthy to follow where He trod!’</p> - -<p>They counted twelve thousand captives that were held in the vile durance -of the gaols; if it were so, death had opened the prison gates to -hundreds upon<a name="page_064" id="page_064"></a> hundreds of the suffering souls, for it was but three or -four thousand men, women, and children whom the Duke of Savoy at last -set free. Did he call it ‘freedom’?</p> - -<p>They were free to leave Piedmont, to take their wretched lives and their -precious faith to other lands, but they were not free to return to the -valleys. Homeless exiles, ruined wanderers, they might go north or -south, east or west; but their homes on the hill-sides should know them -no more.<a name="page_065" id="page_065"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">T</span><small>HE</small> autumn had come, the snow already whitened the Alpine passes; soon -the glittering mantle would lie thick on all the hills, and the whirling -winds would form deep drifts, and the avalanches come thundering down, -and the passage of the Alps would be dangerous exceedingly.</p> - -<p>But the order came, imperious, unevadable—the Vaudois were to go.</p> - -<p>They would rather trust themselves to their own mountains, to the ice -and snow, than stay in those fated prisons; but disease had enfeebled -them, imprisonment and bad air had poisoned those whom death had spared. -It was a woeful company that set out upon that long and dangerous road.</p> - -<p>One of their own historians<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> writes thus of that terrible journey:—</p> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> Monastier. Translated from the French.</p></div> - -<p>‘The Vaudois travelled in companies, escorted by the soldiers of the -duke. They had been promised clothing, but only a small number of -jackets and socks were served out to them. It was five o’clock<a name="page_066" id="page_066"></a></p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i066_lg.jpg"> -<br /> -<img class="enlargeimage" -src="images/enlarge-image.jpg" -alt="Image not available: " -width="18" -height="14" /> -<br /> -<img src="images/i066_sml.jpg" width="443" height="239" alt="Image not available: EXILED." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">EXILED.</span> -</div> - -<p><a name="page_067" id="page_067"></a></p> - -<p class="nind">in the afternoon, at Christmas-tide, when their liberation was -announced, with the addition that if they did not set out forthwith it -would be out of their power to leave at all, for the order was to be -revoked next day. Fearful of losing the chance of liberty, these -unfortunate persons, wasted by sickness, set out on their march that -very night. There were old men amongst them, worn down by sufferings as -well as by years, besides women and children of the tenderest age. That -night they marched three or four leagues through the snow, in the most -intense frost.’</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>This first march cost the lives of a hundred and fifty of them. Was it -wonderful that these died?</p> - -<p>A few days later on at Novalèse, at the foot of Mount Cenis, a troop of -the prisoners noticed that a storm was rising on the mountain; they knew -well what mountain snow-storms were, and they begged the officer who was -in charge to let them stay at Novalèse for a while, out of pity for the -weak that were to be found in their ranks. If their request caused -delay, they said, they would not ask for food; there was less danger in -going without food than in travelling in the face of the storm. The -officer refused. The company was forced to proceed on its march, and -eighty-six sank in the drifted snow;<a name="page_068" id="page_068"></a> they were the aged, the worn out, -women, and some little children. The bands that followed days after saw -the bodies lying frozen on the snow, the mothers still pressing their -children in their arms.</p> - -<p>Henri Botta would never have survived that journey of toil and horror, -had his son Gaspard’s arm been less strong and his heart less brave.</p> - -<p>Gaspard devoted himself to his father with the whole force of his silent -nature; it seemed as though his love for Rénée, pent up and baffled as -it was, sought an outlet in this older, less selfish love, and touched -it with an enthusiasm which was glorious to behold.</p> - -<p>No fatigue seemed to weary the young elastic frame, no privation had -power to damp the calm courage which was always ready to cheer and -brighten the dark hours of trial.</p> - -<p>He had made friends with one of the guards, a soldier whose people he -had known in Turin, and from him he managed to get now and then an extra -bit of bread, a blanket, and some handfuls of roasted chestnuts—poor -and pitiful provision for such a weary way, but to Henri Botta it made, -perhaps, the difference between life and death.</p> - -<p>Down the steep hill-passes the Vaudois came, troops of gaunt and -toil-worn men, large-eyed, weary women, and children who had already -learnt<a name="page_069" id="page_069"></a> the lesson, so strange for childhood—to suffer and be silent. -Down on the shores of the Geneva lake, where the winter sun was shining -on the ripples until they flashed again like liquid diamonds. Along the -ancient roads where many an army had passed before them, but never one -so disconsolate and poor; and up to the gates of the town, whence the -citizens came hurrying with eager welcome.</p> - -<p>They were generous in their kindness, these people of Geneva. Not only -welcoming words, but help, food, rest, comfort were freely given to the -outcast children of the Alps. Company after company came winding down -the mountain sides, but instead of being frightened at such claims upon -their charity, the Swiss contended among themselves for the honour of -aiding these, their persecuted brethren.</p> - -<p>Once more we translate from the Vaudois historian, for the simple -statement is more eloquent than modern words can be:—</p> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>‘Two thousand six hundred Vaudois were received within the walls of -Geneva, the feeble remnant of a population of from fourteen to -sixteen thousand. Moreover, they were either sick or worn out with -fatigue and anxiety, and but ill protected from the rigours of -winter by the old garments<a name="page_070" id="page_070"></a> they had worn in prison. Some there -were whose lives ended the very moment their liberty began; these -expired between the two gates of the city, too weak to bear the -strange sense of joy. But in proportion as the wounds to be dressed -were deep, the loving-kindness of the Genevese rose high. They -contended with one another who should take home the most destitute; -if the invalids and sufferers had any difficulty in walking, men -carried them in their arms into their houses. The heavy charge to -the state and the people was cheerfully accepted. From the time -they had heard of the cruelty of Louis XIV., and of the edicts of -the Duke of Savoy, the Swiss had been preparing to offer aid; and -when they knew that the Vaudois were to be exiled, and coming to -Switzerland, these preparations were redoubled. Five thousand ells -of linen were made into garments, and an equal quantity of the -woollen stuffs of Oberland. Hundreds of pairs of shoes were laid up -in depots. The different cantons distributed the refugees amongst -them in a fixed proportion, and the liberality and compassion knew -no bounds.’</p></div> - -<p>There was a letter written in July, 1688, signed in the name of the -Vaudois by Daniel Forneron and Jean Jalla, a letter yet existing in the -archives of Berne. ‘We have no language strong enough,’ it<a name="page_071" id="page_071"></a> runs, ‘to -express our gratitude for your favours; our hearts, penetrated with all -your acts of kindness, will publish in distant parts the unbounded -charity with which you have refreshed us and supplied all our need. We -shall take care to inform our children and our children’s children, that -all our posterity may know, that, next to God, whose tender mercies have -preserved us from being entirely consumed, we are indebted to you alone -for life and liberty.’</p> - -<p class="cbt">. -. . . . . . .</p> - -<p>In Geneva, in the early days of 1688, there were aching hearts as well -as those that were joyous and thankful. It was delightful to be at rest, -to see the sun rise and set, to feel the pure air, and to wander free -beneath God’s sky. It was strangely sweet to meet together in the -churches to sing the praises of the God who had helped and delivered, to -hear His Word read in the tongue the people could understand, and know -that at last they might worship Him without fear or hindrance.</p> - -<p>But the pain that mingled with the gladness was very sharp.</p> - -<p>Husbands searched through each arriving company for the wives they had -been parted from in the days of the fighting in the valleys. Mothers -sought for their sons with hopes that grew fainter with each<a name="page_072" id="page_072"></a> day that -brought refugees, indeed, but not the familiar faces they longed to see. -Parents sorrowed for their little ones who had been torn from them and -handed over to the Romish convents and schools—the children would grow -up to despise them and their religion, and in the coming time, these, -who were flesh of their flesh, would be ranked with their enemies.</p> - -<p>And how many lay dead, away there beyond the white peaks rising like a -giant’s rampart against the eastern sky! Dead, in the nameless -prison-graves or beneath the winding-sheet of the Alpine snows.<a name="page_073" id="page_073"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i074_lg.jpg"> -<br /> -<img class="enlargeimage" -src="images/enlarge-image.jpg" -alt="Image not available: " -width="18" -height="14" /> -<br /> -<img src="images/i074_sml.jpg" width="205" height="197" alt="Image not available: " /></a> -</div> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">I</span><small>N</small> a Geneva street, where the steep red roofs almost met across the way, -in a tall house with a silversmith’s sign swinging above the door, lived -a Vaudois who had been exiled years ago—the hero of Rora, Joshua -Janavel.</p> - -<p>The coming of his countrymen stirred him as a trumpet-note might stir an -old war-horse. He could only see the glory of their trial, the martyr’s -crown<a name="page_074" id="page_074"></a> given to so many, the noble endurance, the faithfulness and -steadfastness of heart which they had shown. For him to rejoice at -tribulation was no new thing, and he now stood so near to the kingdom of -God that he realised more than ever how small are the ‘sufferings of -this present time’ when compared with the glory that shall be revealed.</p> - -<p>His aged eyes flashed as he heard of weak women standing firm in face of -death and danger; and something of his old ardour awoke again as they -reckoned up the names of those who had fallen in a cause so holy, in -defending rights so sacred. Once only did his head droop and his voice -sink tremulous with feeling, and that was when Henri Botta came to tell -him of his grand-daughter Rénée.</p> - -<p>He had never seen her, this child of his best-beloved son; he had been -driven from the valleys when she was an infant. But he was strangely -moved when they told him of her sweetness, her womanly ways and words, -of the help she had been to Madeleine, and of how she had faced the -trial-storm along with the best and bravest.</p> - -<p>‘Our God has demanded much from me,’ he said in his thin, quavering -tones. ‘And He knows I have reckoned it as honour to spend and be spent -in His cause. I am glad, aye, doubly glad, that the girl, the last of my -race, has been ready to take up the standard<a name="page_075" id="page_075"></a> of Christ, since my weak -hands can grasp it no more.’</p> - -<p>Henri Botta stood in the doorway, looking down on the old man’s face, -and he silently thought that neither age nor death would quite rob the -Vaudois of Joshua Janavel; such names and memories as his linger long in -the hearts of men, and being dead, yet speak in those voices which have -far echoings.</p> - -<p>The time passed slowly on, the spring, the hot summer, and the scented -autumn. There was a great deal stirring in the courts of Europe, but the -people of the Cantons were busy with their own affairs, and troubled -themselves but little with the rebellion in England, or the war which -the Emperor Leopold was bent on waging with France. The fate of the -Vaudois concerned them far more nearly.</p> - -<p>It was only kindness, and the most active Christian charity, that moved -them to make plans for the welfare of the exiles; but the proposals -brought forward filled the Vaudois with dismay.</p> - -<p>It was suggested that some should be settled in Brandenburg, the -dominions of the Great Elector, on the banks of the Elbe; a country -which seemed far and foreign to the simple mountaineers. But -Brandenburg, distant as it was, was as nothing to the journeys which -others urged. The Cape of Good Hope, the unexplored lands of America, -these were<a name="page_076" id="page_076"></a> mentioned as possible homes for the children of the valleys: -and the Swiss were inclined to be impatient when they saw how very -unwelcome such suggestions were.</p> - -<p>The plain fact was that the Vaudois were breaking their hearts with -longings for home. Every time they looked to the eastward they saw the -Alps gleaming white against the sky; the rushing of the Rhone River was -always in their ears, the water which had melted from those upper -snows—the snows of the hills.</p> - -<p>Here in the west there might indeed be freedom, friends, and no shadow -of fear nor pressure of want—but over there, beyond those great white -barriers, lay the land they loved, the ruined hearths for which they had -shed their blood, the fields their ancestors had tilled, the chestnuts, -and the vines, and the mulberries that their grandsires had planted, the -graves of their dear ones, the sacred spots made holy by their tears.</p> - -<p>The Jews of old sighed by the waters of Babylon over their silent harps: -and these poor exiles turned their yearning eyes eastward, unable to -forget their Jerusalem, the land of their inheritance.</p> - -<p>To Gaspard Botta in these days the hope of return was the very -mainspring of life. He worked for his living, as did all the Vaudois; he -indeed worked<a name="page_077" id="page_077"></a> doubly hard, doing his father’s share as well as his own, -for the old man’s strength had never recovered that wound given on the -slope of La Vachère, and it was as much as Gaspard could do to keep him -from fretting over his uncompleted tasks.</p> - -<p>But all the work, hard and anxious as it was, could not entirely blunt -the pain which lay for him behind all other things, as shadows lie about -the clouds. He could not forget that Rénée was still in danger; that -whilst he had shelter, food, comfort, liberty, she and his mother were -probably yet hiding among the mountains with but little more shelter and -sustenance than God gives to the ravens.</p> - -<p>There had been just a chance that they too had been driven off to exile -with the rest, and Gaspard had searched with mingled hope and dread -through every group of forlorn ones arriving in Geneva. But those he -loved were not there. There was no news of them either; they had not -been amongst those who had died in prison, nor amongst those who had -perished on the journey.</p> - -<p>If they were still in life they were near Rora, waiting and watching, as -Gaspard knew, with weary hearts and sinking hopes for his coming back to -them. His white teeth ground themselves together as he thought of it, -and his eyes were dim with a mist of tears as he turned them towards the -hills.<a name="page_078" id="page_078"></a> Was it right to stay quietly here in Switzerland, to let his -hands peaceably handle saws and planes? Was it right to let the long -days pass in peacefulness when his nearest and dearest needed help so -sorely?</p> - -<p>He could scarcely hold himself back as he looked at the hills. Surely, -his faithful heart kept saying, surely he could reach them, surely he -could die with them, if the worst must come.</p> - -<p>Not Gaspard only, but the whole company of the banished felt bitter -longings and heart-sick yearnings drawing them towards Piedmont, as the -magnet draws the steel. Their devotedness, strengthened as it had been -by centuries of persecution, nourished their patriotism; they had -suffered much for the love of God—they reckoned it now but a small -thing to suffer for love of their country.</p> - -<p>As the days crept on the longing grew. It was not that they were -ungrateful; it was not that they did not prize the calm that had -succeeded the struggle, the liberty that had come after the bitter -oppression—but their simple hearts just drooped and pined for the -valleys.</p> - -<p>They had watered that land with their tears and with their blood. No -other country could be ‘home’ to them. They must return, and lift -again—if such were God’s good will—the voice of praise and prayer from -the glens and the hills which now lay desolate.<a name="page_079" id="page_079"></a></p> - -<p>Men with the same anxiety in their hearts as Gaspard had might be -reckoned by the score. There was scarcely a Vaudois who would not have -willingly died rather than have surrendered the hope of getting home to -the valleys, somehow, some day.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i080_lg.jpg"> -<br /> -<img class="enlargeimage" -src="images/enlarge-image.jpg" -alt="Image not available: " -width="18" -height="14" /> -<br /> -<img src="images/i080_sml.jpg" width="228" height="248" alt="Image not available: JANAVEL AND THE EXILES IN GENEVA." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">JANAVEL AND THE EXILES IN GENEVA.</span> -</div> - -<p>In the silversmith’s house in the dark Geneva street, groups gathered -evening after evening to talk with Janavel. He was, as was natural, a -sort of rallying-point for his countrymen. His elbow-chair<a name="page_080" id="page_080"></a> was the -centre of elaborate plannings, fluctuating hopes and fears, and -audacious ideas. Here differing ways and means were discussed endlessly; -here all men spoke their minds.</p> - -<p>And Janavel, who himself could never again strike a blow for country or -for faith, was the most eager and hopeful of all.</p> - -<p>‘Our land is the Lord’s,’ he would say; ‘and in the Lord’s good time it -shall be restored to our trust.’</p> - -<p class="cbt">. -. . . . . . .</p> - -<p>It was in July, 1687, that the first attempt at return was made. Two or -three hundred impatient ones gathered at Ouchy, on the shores of the -lake, full of ardour and hope. But that enterprise was promptly nipped -in the bud. The Swiss had pledged their honour to the Duke of Savoy, and -considered themselves responsible for the good behaviour of the Vaudois. -They could not allow the exiles to cross the frontier with the avowed -intention of regaining their country by force of arms, so the expedition -was stopped at its very outsetting, and the two or three hundred men -sent back to the places from whence they had gathered themselves. So the -first effort, small and ill-advised as it was, came to an untimely end.</p> - -<p>On the next occasion things were altered. Events marched quickly in -those troublous times. In July,<a name="page_081" id="page_081"></a> 1687, James II. was on the English -throne, a bigoted Papist, whose sympathies were all with the -extermination of what he called heresy. And in 1687 Louis of France had -ample leisure to listen to all priestly plans for crushing the ‘new -religion.’</p> - -<p>In 1689 William of Orange was King of England, a prince wholly devoted -to the cause of Protestantism, and King Louis had his hands full to -overflowing with wars against the Germans and the Dutch.</p> - -<p>And—a fact more important to them than affairs of foreign kings and -potentates—the exiles had found what they had hitherto so sorely -lacked—a leader. He was one Henri Arnaud, a simple pastor of the -valleys, a man trained in the school of hardship, just one of -themselves. But he was, in spite of this, a really great man, one not -only like Joshua Janavel, but like that other and far greater Joshua, -the Hebrew captain of old; for in his heart burnt the holy fire of God’s -faith and fear, and on his lips was the old battle-cry of the Hebrews, -‘Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou -dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.’</p> - -<p>It is said that events shape the characters of men rather than men shape -the events. If ever this be true, it was the case with Henri Arnaud. His -character was the outcome of that hard struggle for<a name="page_082" id="page_082"></a> existence that had -made the Vaudois what they were. Past years of oppression and -blood-shedding had nerved his heart and armed his hand; and the purity -of the truth for which he and his had suffered had sunk into his soul as -the sun’s warmth penetrates the surface of the earth.</p> - -<p>The Vaudois were as sheep having no shepherd. That very need was a spur -to Arnaud. He stood forth, and with one voice they hailed him as their -captain. Reverently, and in God’s strength, he accepted the trust.<a name="page_083" id="page_083"></a></p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i084_lg.jpg"> -<br /> -<img class="enlargeimage" -src="images/enlarge-image.jpg" -alt="Image not available: " -width="18" -height="14" /> -<br /> -<img src="images/i084_sml.jpg" width="223" height="206" alt="Image not available: " /></a> -</div> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">A</span><small>RNAUD’S</small> first care was to gather up the scattered threads of the -Vaudois powers, and to unite them, as far as might be, into one cord—a -cord which should be firm enough to hold out against the sharp tension -that must come.</p> - -<p>He had himself been to Holland to confer with William of Orange, the -hope of the Protestant<a name="page_084" id="page_084"></a> world. To him he had unfolded the Waldenses’ -darling project, a project that seemed wild and hopeless enough when put -into words. But Dutch William’s soldierly heart warmed as he listened, -and for once he threw his diplomatic caution to the winds, as he said: -‘Try it, and may God prosper you! If events that I foresee come -straightly off the reel, I may be presently in a position to give you -aid, a better position than I have now. Go on! trust in yourselves, and -trust in God!’</p> - -<p>Arnaud recalled those concluding words many and many a time in the -months that followed. It would not be timorous and divided hearts that -would win the end they held in view; it must be brotherly trust in one -another, devoted trust in their fathers’ God, that alone could lift them -on victoriously.</p> - -<p>It was on the 16th of August, 1689, that the rendezvous was fixed on the -wooded shores of the upper lake. The summer foliage was thick upon the -forest, dense enough to hide the bands of men who came trooping there -from all parts of Switzerland. They had to avoid the eyes not only of -enemies, but of friends; the magistrates of Chillon and Aigle and Nyon -were all on the watch to stop the passage of the Vaudois, as they had -stopped the former attempt; but so quietly<a name="page_085" id="page_085"></a> did they gather, so -carefully did they keep their counsel, that the deep woods sheltered -more than nine hundred men before the sun went down that day, and that -without any suspicion having been excited amongst the Swiss.</p> - -<p>Nine hundred men; a small army to attempt the conquest of the valleys, -where the soldiers of Savoy were holding the passes, the bridges, and -the forts. Undisciplined and ill-armed they were, without stores or -means of transport, and without money. Well they knew the dangers that -were before them, the privations and fatigues, the scorching heat of the -low-lying lands, the bitter snows of the mountains; but in all that -crowd of resolute men there was not one who quailed or shrunk.</p> - -<p>‘Father,’ said Gaspard, standing by the old man’s side and watching the -rugged face wistfully as he spoke, ‘Father, wilt thou not abide here, -and let me strike thy blow as well as mine own? This arm is surely -strong enough; and the thought of thee here, and my mother and Rénée -yonder, will nerve it to double strength. Can it not be so? Wilt thou -not return in peace to Geneva?’</p> - -<p>Henri Botta shook his head; his words were few at any time, fewest when -deeply moved.<a name="page_086" id="page_086"></a></p> - -<p>‘Nay,’ he said; ‘the sons of the Vaudois are but a remnant now, each -hand must do its best. Our cause is just. As Israel of old seized sword -and buckler to keep hold of the land the Lord had given, so we will -fight for the land where our fathers held high the standard of the truth -which is in Christ Jesus, the land which is our rightful heritage.’</p> - -<p>Gaspard would have urged his point yet further, but the old man would -not hear; and in his heart the son knew how impossible it was that Henri -should stay at Geneva, feebly trying in loneliness and -longing-heartedness to accomplish the task that should earn his daily -sustenance. The worn-out body would flag and utterly fail if he were -left behind while the rest marched out to regain, if so it might be, -their fatherland. And yet, worn and aged as he was, how was he to battle -through the dangers that lay before Arnaud and his band?</p> - -<p>The sun set; the sweet summer night was silent and serene; the water -lapped the flowering rushes and broke in ripples against the rocky -shore; a star or two shone in the gleaming sky, and beyond the far -horizon-line the shimmer of moonlight was creeping up the east.</p> - -<p>The men stood in groups among the trees, strange thoughts thronging -about their hearts—a solemn<a name="page_087" id="page_087"></a> sense of present peril, and eager longings -to take the first step of their great enterprise; but they stood quietly -for the most part. Such times as these are not times for talk, and the -trouble-trained Vaudois had learned to possess their souls in silence.</p> - -<p>It was two hours from midnight; presently a voice broke over the -stillness—it was the leader, Arnaud, and his words were words of -prayer. Kneeling there in the shadow of the trees, his eyes lifted to -that growing eastern radiance, he poured out his pleadings—he asked for -Divine help where other help was small and scant; for Divine guidance -where a guiding hand would be so sorely needed; for Divine strength to -fill the failing hands and brace the feeble knees. ‘Thou hast helped our -fathers throughout the long ages, O God of our hope! help us still, -according to Thine ancient promises. Be favourable to the simple and the -needy, and preserve the souls of the poor; that our tongues may talk of -Thy righteousness, and the mountains bring peace to Thy people!’</p> - -<p>Gaspard heard the deep tones of his father’s ‘Amen.’ The old man’s face -showed sharp against the gleam of the sky, and upon it was a look that -silenced Gaspard’s fears. Henri Botta was<a name="page_088" id="page_088"></a> asking for the strength that -is greater than all human powers, the strength that is never denied. One -sharp pang shot through Gaspard’s heart, and then the bitterness of his -anxiety was gone for ever. Failure, death itself might be before them; -but he felt, he knew, that God would care for His aged servant, and lift -him safely to the shores of that country where the nations shall be -healed.</p> - -<p>Across the still stretches of the Geneva water, over the sleeping lake -into the shadow of the further shores; then, landing on the Savoy side, -and marshalling their ranks in such brave battle-front as they could -show, these nine hundred men began their march.</p> - -<p>Their historian<a name="FNanchor_B_2" id="FNanchor_B_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_2" class="fnanchor">[B]</a> says: ‘They were a small company to attack Savoy—a -company, on the other hand, far too numerous for the slender means of -sustenance to be found in the by-places through which they intended to -go; an untrained assemblage formed of persons of every age, hardened, it -is true, by toil, but yet strangers to military discipline and -manœuvres. What would become of them as they pressed on, forcing -their way against an armed resistance, through inhospitable tracts and -deep defiles, by the sides of<a name="page_089" id="page_089"></a> precipices, and over rocks crowned with -eternal snow? Now alone on the strand of the lake they have just -crossed, they tread on the soil they are about to bathe with their sweat -and their blood. No illusion deceives them; the hard reality, with its -dangers and privations, is before their eyes, stern as the truth. But no -one draws back. The prize of the conflict seems to them worthy of the -highest sacrifices; it is a terrestrial home, to the recollection of -which they have attached their faith and hope of salvation in Christ -Jesus. In setting out, sword in hand, to reconquer it their hearts are -at ease, for their cause is just.... They desire to remain under the -observation of God, the righteous Judge, and beneath His holy -protection. They hope to repeat on their march, and in every encounter, -“Jehovah is our Banner.” ’</p> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_2" id="Footnote_B_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_2"><span class="label">[B]</span></a> Antoine Monastier.</p></div> - -<p class="cbt">. -. . . . . . .</p> - -<p>The blessed summer-time brought beauty once more to the valleys. The -flowers shone again in the deserted gardens, and the garlanded leaves of -vines hid the breaches in the shattered walls of Rora.</p> - -<p>Madeleine Botta came of sturdy mountain race, and her vigour came again -to her with the throbbing, teeming life of the summer world. It was<a name="page_090" id="page_090"></a> -Rénée now whose strength flagged, Rénée whose eyes were lustreless, and -whose footsteps were slow.</p> - -<p>The months, long weary months, had told on her courage and broken her -spirit; it was in the spring of 1687 when the thunderbolt of desolation -had fallen on her home, when the house-master and Emile and her own -Gaspard had gone out to keep the barricades. It was high summer-time -when Gaspard had crept away from their cave shelter, and she had dashed -the tears from her eyes, that her vision might hold him, clear and -unbedimmed, until he had turned that sharp angle of rock where the -broken bridge lay damming up the stream. It was again the summer when -Madeleine lay so nigh to death, and she, in lowliness and sore distress, -fought with the fever that threatened to rob her of her ‘mother.’</p> - -<p>And now again it was summer-time. Was the brightness but empty mockery? -Was the sunshine to gladden all the world save the homes of the Vaudois, -and the heart of Rénée Janavel?</p> - -<p>Madeleine watched her in silence. She knew something, and guessed more, -of this heart-sickness that weighed upon the girl’s elastic nature until -her Rénée seemed as limp and nerveless as one of the unpropped vines in -yonder ravaged valley.<a name="page_091" id="page_091"></a> She did not sympathise nor seek by word of -counsel to probe or heal the hurt. She waited with the trustful patience -that was part of her character until her spoken sympathy could be -followed out by help.</p> - -<p>Some semblance of peace had come to the country-side; the professors of -the ‘new religion’ had been driven out with sword and with fire: and -there must needs be cessation of persecution when none are left to be -persecuted. Even such refugees and stragglers as had hidden in the -mountains had mostly perished or been seized ere this, and even the -priests and preaching friars were content with their finished work, and -let their energy in heretic-hunting slacken down.</p> - -<p>Madeleine and Rénée ventured occasionally into the empty villages, and -walked abroad upon the upper slopes, even by daylight. There were some -cottagers dwelling on the foot-road to Casiana, who, although Romanists, -were as friendly as they dared to be; and from them Madeleine now and -then heard stray scraps of intelligence; she had been kind to them in -years gone by, and even the fury of the death-decrees that had desolated -the valleys had not quite extinguished their memories of gratitude.</p> - -<p>Indeed, during the last winter they had given<a name="page_092" id="page_092"></a> more than kind -words—many a great cake of black-bread, many a bag of chestnuts and -handful of barley-meal had found its way to the refuge on the cliff; and -when the two women had expostulated they would be told that it was but -part of the produce of their own lands, which had been divided amongst -the Catholics by the duke. ‘And,’ the kindly words would finish with, -‘and, if you are so very particular, Henri and Gaspard shall pay us for -all when they come back again.’</p> - -<p>But Rénée shuddered when she heard that: she had hoped for long and -long, but now her hope was dead. Neither the house-master nor Gaspard -would ever come back!—so she believed, in her dreary despair.</p> - -<p>In the long June days Madeleine heard news which made her decide on -trying to light again the dead hope in Rénée’s heart. Some rumours of -what was happening in the great centres of life, in Paris, and Vienna, -and Turin, penetrated as far as Luserna, and echoes reached the friendly -cottage on the Casina road, and finally were heard by Madeleine.</p> - -<p>Savoy was stripped of troops; the duke had need of all his soldiers in -Piedmont; the King of France was fighting with the emperor and the -Dutch; and the Vaudois were massed in the<a name="page_093" id="page_093"></a> cantons of Switzerland, -looking with longing eyes at the hill-ranges of their native land.</p> - -<p>‘Child,’ said Madeleine, ‘once, long months ago, you spoke of creeping -away to the Swiss country, to live in security where God has granted -freedom to serve Him unchidden. Do you remember, dear? and how I felt I -could not face the weary journey, nor bear to see you go alone? And—— -’</p> - -<p>‘Mother!’—the interruption came with a flash of the girl’s old -spirit—‘mother! would it be possible for me to have left you?’</p> - -<p>‘Dear child! but there is now no question of leaving me—we will go -together, Rénée; and it may be we shall find our dear ones yonder; and -God’s sun shall shine upon my eventide in those blessed lands where -there is yet the daylight of His truth.’<a name="page_094" id="page_094"></a></p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i095_lg.jpg"> -<br /> -<img class="enlargeimage" -src="images/enlarge-image.jpg" -alt="Image not available: " -width="18" -height="14" /> -<br /> -<img src="images/i095_sml.jpg" width="224" height="184" alt="Image not available: BREAD FOR THE WAYFARERS." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">BREAD FOR THE WAYFARERS.</span> -</div> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">T</span><small>WO</small> women walking northward through the quiet air of the summer-time, -carrying modest bundles on their shoulders, their arms laden with -osier-baskets, which they offered in exchange for a bit of bread or a -night’s lodging, were not travellers likely to awaken remark or -cupidity. Madeleine Botta and her foster-child traversed the Luserna -valley unmolested. The hue and cry after the heretics had died -away—perhaps even a reaction had set in, and there might be pity -mingled with any suspicions that the Papist peasants entertained as the -two passed by.<a name="page_095" id="page_095"></a></p> - -<p>There was a garrison at the town of Luserna, and large monasteries -established at La Torre and Bobbio. But these places were easily -avoided, the travellers entering only the most retired hamlets and -hill-side cottages when seeking a market for their wares, and, unless in -want of food, keeping as far as possible from all human haunts. Though -immediate danger seemed afar off, they had suffered too bitterly not to -be cautious.</p> - -<p>The planning and the caution were mostly left to Madeleine, for Rénée -still looked round her with indifferent eyes, and seemed too hopeless, -too miserable to care whether they ever reached Switzerland or not. She -walked by her foster-mother’s side, gentle, indeed, and sweet and -bidable, but unlike the gay girl whom Gaspard had wooed before the fury -of this last persecution had burst upon Savoy.</p> - -<p>One evening, it was the 29th of August, the travellers halted on the -slopes of the Giuliano Pass. They had come through Armatier, and up the -banks of the torrent that runs down to Bobbio from the mighty -glacier-skirts of Mount Cournan. They were weary, for the day’s march -had been unusually long.</p> - -<p>They had taken shelter in a cottage—deserted as so many Piedmont -cottages were in those sad years—<a name="page_096" id="page_096"></a>and Madeleine, folding her cloak -about her, lay down to rest.</p> - -<p>Rénée stood by the doorway; the broken hinges told their tale of -forcible entry; the few rude articles of furniture were broken likewise; -the feet of the spoiler had entered here, and that not so very long ago, -judging from the splinters of the fir-wood which showed white in the -gathering shadow.</p> - -<p>The girl’s eyes were fixed on the snowy dome of the great mountain which -shone to the northward in a radiance and purity which might almost befit -the hills of heaven, round its feet soft mist, as of opal and of pearl, -floated in streaming trails and wreaths. And beyond it the clear sky was -fair and stainless in its immensity of blue; one glittering point of -sharp silver trembled above—the first shy star of the summer night.</p> - -<p>‘Rénée,’ Madeleine called to her in tones which were full of love—of -yearning love that longed to help her child. ‘Rénée, of what thinkest -thou now in the evening silence? Of the difficult ways we have trodden? -or of those we yet must tread? Shall our prayer to our Father this night -begin with thankfulness? or with pleading for yet more of His help? Come -here to me, Rénée, and let me hear thy voice.’</p> - -<p>The girl turned and came to her side. The<a name="page_097" id="page_097"></a> listless mood had lifted, and -there was a sense of surpressed emotion in her gait, in her voice, and -her very hands, as she stretched them out to Madeleine.</p> - -<p>‘Is there ever an answer, mother?’ she said.</p> - -<p>‘An answer?’</p> - -<p>‘Aye, to these prayers of ours? And to all the sighs and burden of -prayer that has gone up from the valleys these centuries past? Does He -hear us at all, our God? or are the places of His dominion too wide for -Him to have thought to spare for the narrow shelters where the Vaudois -have tried to hide from the spoiler and oppressor? Look there, mother! -see where the head of that mountain lifts itself into the skies; it is -the same, always the same, silent and cold and cruel, though our -forefathers were hunted across its ridges in the past years, and we are -now creeping wearily towards its feet. It cares nothing. It smiles in -the sun or it frowns in the tempest, and heeds not Savoyard, nor -Frenchman, nor Vaudois! Mother, is it not like this Power that we -implore?—this Power that is deaf to our cries—indifferent, though we -His servants are dying here on His earth?’</p> - -<p>There was no reply to this outpouring of long pent-up emotion. Madeleine -drew the girl’s figure close to her side, and laid her forehead against -the throbbing breast. A faint wind sighed amongst the<a name="page_098" id="page_098"></a> pine boughs, and -a far-off rustle and dull roll told of the passage of a distant -avalanche. Rénée shivered.</p> - -<p>‘Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him,’ repeated Madeleine, the -fervent words coming distinct and brave, although her lips were -trembling.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i099_lg.jpg"> -<br /> -<img class="enlargeimage" -src="images/enlarge-image.jpg" -alt="Image not available: " -width="18" -height="14" /> -<br /> -<img src="images/i099_sml.jpg" width="223" height="226" alt="Image not available: A VISION OF THE MOUNTAINS—‘COLD AND CRUEL.’" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">A VISION OF THE MOUNTAINS—‘COLD AND CRUEL.’</span> -</div> - -<p>‘It is through suffering that we must follow our Lord,’ she went on, -after a long pause. ‘He refused the kingdoms of this world and the glory -of them, and chose to wander homeless, and to die in shame. O child, -thou hast lost much, and even yet more may be asked of thee—home and -dear ones are<a name="page_099" id="page_099"></a> gone; food, raiment, life itself may be wrenched -away—but, Rénée, do not give up thy faith!—thy faith in the rest that -remaineth for the Vaudois—thy faith in thy Saviour, who loveth even -thee and me!’</p> - -<p>The girl was weeping. Not the burning tears of a passionate despair, but -the blessed drops that ease the heart from whence they flow. Into her -soul there came some faint fair imagining of the meaning of it all—this -trial and torture, this desolation and weariness of waiting. Just such a -glimpse as had come to Gaspard when he knelt alone on Mount Vadolin came -now to her. Life, and the wreck of such riches as life had held for her, -was small indeed compared with this higher weal and wealth—the -unsearchable riches of Christ.</p> - -<p>And, presently, when the purple shade crept over the gleaming snows of -the upper pass, and even the mountain’s mighty brow was shadowed—two -voices sang the ‘Psalm of Strong Confidence,’ albeit the notes fell -quaveringly, and the words were mingled with the echoes of sobs.</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">‘The earth trembled and was still, when God arose<br /></span> -<span class="i1">To help the meek upon the earth.<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Then the fierceness of man shall be turned to His praise,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">And the fierceness of the violent shall be restrained.’<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p><a name="page_100" id="page_100"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i101_lg.jpg"> -<br /> -<img class="enlargeimage" -src="images/enlarge-image.jpg" -alt="Image not available: " -width="18" -height="14" /> -<br /> -<img src="images/i101_sml.jpg" width="189" height="154" alt="Image not available: " /></a> -</div> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">T</span><small>HE</small> Vaudois troops (if the word ‘troops’ can be applied to the nine -hundred followers of Henri Arnaud) crossed Lake Leman on the 18th of -August, and at once pressed southwards through La Chablais and Faucigny.</p> - -<p>They were already on the enemy’s ground, or rather in the dominions of -the Duke of Savoy, but their own country lay beyond the huge shoulders -of Mont Blanc and Mont Cenis; and they had many weary leagues to win -before they could look upon their enterprise as fairly begun. They had -no<a name="page_101" id="page_101"></a></p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i102_lg.jpg"> -<br /> -<img class="enlargeimage" -src="images/enlarge-image.jpg" -alt="Image not available: " -width="18" -height="14" /> -<br /> -<img src="images/i102_sml.jpg" width="459" height="320" alt="Image not available: SKETCH MAP OF THE WALDENSIAN VALLEYS." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">SKETCH MAP OF THE WALDENSIAN VALLEYS.</span> -</div> - -<p><a name="page_102" id="page_102"></a></p> - -<p><a name="page_103" id="page_103"></a></p> - -<p class="nind">quarrel with the towns of Upper Savoy; all they asked was free passage, -and to be allowed to purchase food—a demand not always granted.</p> - -<p>At Boëge they met with the first resistance; and here Arnaud made his -first stroke of generalship. He seized several gentlemen as hostages, -and made one of them write letters to the mayors of the towns of Vin, -St. Joyre, and Cluse, to the effect that the Vaudois ‘had requested -hostages to accompany them, to give an account of their conduct, which -should be in all respects honest and regular; that they wished to pay -for everything they demanded, and to go peaceably on their way.’ The -mayors were advised ‘not to sound the tocsin nor to alarm the country, -and to withdraw their people, if they were already under arms.’</p> - -<p>These letters, signed by all the hostages, names well known and honoured -in Savoy, had an excellent effect; and the little army pressed on up the -Valley of the Arve, to gain, if possible, the Bridge of Sallenches, -before the news of their approach could give opportunity for it to be -fortified against them.</p> - -<p>Just as they came down the Maglan road, they saw a horseman galloping -towards the town to give the alarm. Sallenches being the chief town of -Faucigny, there, if anywhere, their passage would be disputed, and it -was of the utmost importance<a name="page_104" id="page_104"></a> to make what speed they might, that the -town might be taken unawares.</p> - -<p>Within a hundred paces of the great wooden bridge they halted, putting -themselves in their best battle-array. A regular army corps might have -smiled to see their uneven ranks, their curious collection of weapons, -their queer attempts at soldierly equipment. But a second glance at -those lines of steadfast faces, a further thought of what those steady -eyes, those firm lips, and eager looks must mean, would have put an end -to smiling. The nine hundred men drawn up before the Bridge of -Sallenches were no fitting mark for scoffing—so much at least was -certain. The townsmen hoped to gain time by parleying. They sent -deputies and messengers; and meanwhile were getting the guard under -arms.</p> - -<p>Arnaud divined the meaning of their delay. He looked carefully at the -bridge, laden as it was with houses, and flanked by towers which in -half-an-hour would be filled with soldiers. He looked along the ranks of -his men. <i>He</i> could read the meaning of those steadfast faces! The word -was given. There was a rush forward. Swift and silent—the mountaineers -had crossed the bridge. Sallenches was won.</p> - -<p>The passage of Sallenches, rather, for they dared<a name="page_105" id="page_105"></a> not loiter in the -town. They hurried on to Cablau, where, weary and hungry, and soaked -with the heavy rain, they laid down to rest. But they raised thankful -hearts in gratitude to God that night.</p> - -<p>The chronicler of their journey writes: ‘These poor people blessed God -that they had marched so far successfully, without fighting or loss of -men, over bridges and through defiles where a few courageous defenders -could have done them irreparable injury, and they were grateful for a -peaceful night after so much fatigue and anxiety. Rest was very -necessary, for they were about to face difficulties of which the -prospect might have shaken the courage of persons quite unfatigued and -free from anxiety; how much more men who for a number of days and nights -had known no rest or sleep but what they could enjoy during their brief -halts, not to mention the mental disquietude which scarcely allowed them -to close their eyes! Now they had reached the foot of the most gigantic -of the Alps, whose heads are hoary with eternal snows, and whose -precipitous sides are scored by a few perilous paths by which no -traveller can come without danger. The Vaudois had to traverse the -forests of the lower grounds, to clamber rocks surmounted with silver -snows, hollowed out with dazzling glaciers and torrent waterfalls; they -came not into this sublime scenery to admire the<a name="page_106" id="page_106"></a> works of God, but to -shun men and cities, to breathe free air—as did the chamois bounding on -the heights above them, or the eagle that soared over their heads. They -had to cross numerous spurs and ranges of the hills, lateral branches of -the principal chain; to do this it was necessary to climb from the -bottom of one valley, only to descend again into the next. Often they -could find nothing to maintain them but milk and cheese and the frozen -water of the mountains. The rain frequently beat upon their backs, bent -with fatigue; and their suffering feet slipped upon the stones and in -the stony ravines. Late at night they would perhaps reach shepherds’ -huts, barren and cold, where they would make fires by unroofing the -hovels for fuel; a plan that warmed them indeed, but exposed them to the -fury of the elements. And this was their daily experience for eight -days. But Arnaud, the zealous and renowned leader of the little troop, -restored, by his holy and excellent exhortations, the courage of those -who followed him. He spared himself least of all. His foot took the most -difficult path, his platter was the last to be filled. And in the -morning and at the night-falling he, in the name of his little flock, -asked for them the strength and confidence of God.’</p> - -<p>Such were the first steps of the ‘Glorious Return.’<a name="page_107" id="page_107"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">T</span><small>HE</small> Vaudois had lived from generation to generation a life described by -a modern writer as one of absolute seclusion, ‘without thought or -forethought of foreign help or parsimonious store;’ drinking draughts -from their own grape-clusters and saving of last year’s harvest only -seed enough for the next. They had the serenity given them by God and by -Nature, with thanks for the good and submission for the evil; they -persisted through better and worse in their fathers’ ways, in the use of -their fathers’ tools, and in holding to their fathers’ fields as -faithfully as the trees to their roots or the lichens to their rocks.</p> - -<p>It was this simplicity, this serenity, and persistency, that carried -them forward now. A regular army would have been hampered by a hundred -needs and cares and strategies. Arnaud and his men went from Nyon to -Sallenches, from Mont Blanc to Mont Cenis, from the Arve to the Doire, -stepping forward<a name="page_108" id="page_108"></a> with the confidence of children and the ‘foolishness’ -of the saints.</p> - -<p>Some opposition they had already overcome. They avoided the French -garrison of Exilles, but they could not avoid the Marquis de Larrey, who -with two thousand five hundred soldiers kept the passage of the Doire at -Salabertrand.</p> - -<p>They had hurried past Exilles, hoping to win this bridge as they had won -the bridge over the Arve, but the night was falling as they came within -sight of the place, and they were forced to halt at a village to snatch -rest and a meal. They asked if they could buy bread. The answer, -significantly spoken, sounded threatening.</p> - -<p>‘Come on to the river, you will get there all you want; they are -preparing excellent suppers for you.’</p> - -<p>It was Gaspard Botta to whom those words were said, and he reported them -at once to Arnaud. The chief shared his fears as to what they might -mean, but there was no room for hesitation in Arnaud’s heart. He -gathered his men for the usual evening prayer; perhaps his words were -more intensely fervent, higher in their note of faith than they had been -before, and the ‘Amen’ that rose from the tightened bearded lips was fit -echo to such petitions.</p> - -<p>The darkness was lying on the world unbroken by<a name="page_109" id="page_109"></a> moon or star; only the -snow-gleam and the pale line below the western clouds gave light enough -to see the strongly-rushing river, white here and there with broken -water, and the dark span of the wooden arches stemming the torrent.</p> - -<p>The tramp of their feet provoked the sharp challenge—</p> - -<p>‘Who goes there?’</p> - -<p>‘Friends,’ cried Arnaud; ‘all we ask is——’</p> - -<p>But the answer came in a tempest of bullets, and wild cries of ‘Kill! -kill!’ The mountaineers flung themselves on their faces, and the deadly -hail flew almost harmless above their heads. Then when the French -muskets were empty Arnaud dashed on.</p> - -<p>‘Courage,’ he called. ‘Forward, Vaudois! the bridge is won!’</p> - -<p>And it was even so! The fierce onslaught of the desperate men confused -and shattered the enemy’s lines. Ten or twelve wounded, fourteen or -fifteen killed, was the Vaudois loss—and their gain was the passage of -the Doire, the open door to their valleys!</p> - -<p>The French had fled. The town was at the mercy of its captors. They -seized what military stores they needed, and blew up what ammunition -they could not carry away. They did sup well that night; the threat had -turned to a prophecy.</p> - -<p>The next day they reached the summit of the<a name="page_110" id="page_110"></a> mountain of Sci. It is a -high crest overlooking the Valley of Clusone, fearful enough when -howling with the gales of winter and dark with the shadow of -snow-clouds; but to-day the sun bathed it in warm light, and the sky -shone over it, fair as a shield of silver. Arnaud halted his army there -on the brow, and silently pointed to the scene before them.</p> - -<p>There were the well-known landmarks; there the sharp horizon-line of -their own mountains, the hills of their native land. Before their eyes -it lay, bright in the sunshine, the country of the Vaudois—the home for -which they had hungered—the land for which they had longed. The very -wind as it blew from off it seemed charged as with breath of blessing.</p> - -<p>They knelt reverently, with one accord, lifting moist eyes to the blue -sky-depths, while Arnaud, their captain and their minister, poured out -thanksgiving and praise for the help that had brought them thus far. -‘The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad. Turn again -our captivity, O Lord, that they that sow in tears may reap in joy. -Though we walk in the midst of trouble, Thou wilt revive us. Thou shalt -stretch forth Thine hand against the wrath of our enemies, and Thy right -hand shall save us.’</p> - -<p>Those Hebrew psalms came to their lips in the<a name="page_111" id="page_111"></a> day of toil and -suffering, and they come still to all Christian souls, fitting all -needs, singing as they do of human sins and failures, of Divine -forgiveness, and God’s triumphant glory; they stir the innermost hearts -of men as they echo down through the ages, as true and real now as when -first sung by the sweet singers of Israel.</p> - -<p>Each day increased the difficulties gathering about the devoted band. -The news of their approach had reached Piedmont, and troops were on the -alert to intercept their march. The valleys were not to be gained -without a deadly struggle; and Arnaud knew it.</p> - -<p>Eleven days after leaving Geneva they set foot in the first Vaudois -village, Balsille, in the Vale of St. Martino. It was empty; the new -inhabitants had fled down the river-bank towards Le Perrier, where a -strong force of Piedmontese soldiers were forming across the valley.</p> - -<p>But the Vaudois avoided the force they could scarcely hope to defeat. -Arnaud turned to the south-westward, up the gorge of Prali, intending to -reach the Valley of Luserna by the Guliano Pass, leaving Le Perrier and -its garrison on his left.</p> - -<p>There was utter peace up this mountain valley, the peace of the great -hills in the warmth and hush of the summer. The church—the ‘Temple of -Prals,<a name="page_112" id="page_112"></a> as they had used to call it—was still standing; it had been -transformed into a place for Romish worship, but the white walls raised -by Vaudois hands were there, and the roof-tree that had echoed to the -people’s prayers for generations.</p> - -<p>Henri Botta bared his head as he entered it. He gave small heed to the -movements and exclamations of his comrades, who were sternly removing -all superstitious ornaments and popish adornments; his heart had gone -back to the old days when he had come here from Rora to woo Madeleine, -who had lived in yonder farm-stead all her girlish years—one could see -it yet, the broken gable rising sharp above the tufted chestnut grove; -and there in that humble cottage by the foot-bridge, the heroic pastor -Leydat had lived—Leydat, who had been martyred in 1686, seized while -singing psalms with his hunted flock in a cave below the mighty crest of -Mont Cournan. Henri Botta almost thought he could yet hear his -well-known voice as he read from the great Bible chained on the desk by -the further arch; a voice easily to be held in memory, with its deep -cadences and rolling utterance.</p> - -<p>Leydat was dead—blessedly dead among God’s saints in God’s keeping; the -farm-stead was wrecked; the great Bible and its clasps torn away—and -Madeleine—who could say what had befallen<a name="page_113" id="page_113"></a> her since they parted at the -entrenchments across the Rora Valley? How long ago it seemed!</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i114_lg.jpg"> -<br /> -<img class="enlargeimage" -src="images/enlarge-image.jpg" -alt="Image not available: " -width="18" -height="14" /> -<br /> -<img src="images/i114_sml.jpg" width="208" height="141" alt="Image not available: THE CHAINED BIBLE." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">THE CHAINED BIBLE.</span> -</div> - -<p>And the house-master held his own withered hand before his eyes, gazing -at it curiously, evidence as it was of his age and infirmity. Such a -shaking, knotted, feeble old hand! A marvel, is it not, that one so aged -and broken as he should have managed to live through the days of their -daring march hence from Switzerland?</p> - -<p>‘God has been my helper,’ he murmured. ‘He, and His gift to me, my boy -Gaspard.’<a name="page_114" id="page_114"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">B</span><small>OTTA</small> could see Gaspard from where he stood, and his eyes kindled and -grew luminous as he watched the athletic figure bending under its load -of forage. The young carpenter had proved himself good metal, and -Arnaud—one of whose many gifts it was to judge men’s qualities swiftly -and justly—had advanced him from the ranks to a place of trust about -his own person. There was not a man in his whole troop that he trusted -more fully than Botta’s son, Gaspard.</p> - -<p>‘This was your mother’s home,’ said the house-master, later that -evening, when he and Gaspard had withdrawn themselves a little from the -rest, and climbed the steep bank which swept up from the hill-torrent to -the bastion of rock that kept watch and ward above. ‘Your mother’s home. -Here I saw her first, binding rye in those fields—the grey and silver -rye. I never see it now but I think of that day in autumn, two and -thirty years ago. Two and thirty years—a long time, Gaspard, to you, -for<a name="page_115" id="page_115"></a> it is more than your whole life; but to me it seems but a handful -of days, few and evil, like those of Jacob. Two and thirty years!’</p> - -<p>‘There are other measurements than hours and weeks,’ returned the young -man slowly; ‘I have learned that. How long is it since we crossed the -mountains into Switzerland? They count our exile as a score or two of -months, to me it is a very lifetime.’</p> - -<p>‘His day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years in His sight but -as a day,’ returned Henri Botta, whose slower mind had not grasped the -inner meaning of his son’s words.</p> - -<p>‘And,’ Gaspard went on, ‘there are the small things we give our lives to -grasp, and the great things we have not eyes to see. Will God judge us -for our foolishness, and punish us for our blindness in the day of the -account?’</p> - -<p>‘He bids us ask for wisdom, Gaspard, and He has promised us the light.’</p> - -<p>Still he did not follow the workings of his son’s mind, but he added:</p> - -<p>‘God understandeth our frame, and remembereth that we are but dust. If -His heaven is high and far above us, His Son came here that in all -things <i>He</i> might understand.’</p> - -<p>The young man did not answer. He was thinking<a name="page_116" id="page_116"></a> of that day on the -Angrogna hill when first he caught an inkling of the truth that the life -is more than meat, and the body than raiment—that day when it was first -given him to see that God’s stroke, falling as sharp pain, is yet His -Hand of Love.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>It was but little that they seemed able to effect, this handful of men -marching across the confines of their native land; their bivouac fires -were few and feeble on that summer night in the Prali fields; and Henri -Botta’s white hairs and Gaspard’s ill-armed hands showed as poor samples -of the stuff of which Arnaud’s army was made. Yet, judged by wider -measurements, they were not ignoble, nor was their effort mean. These -men of the Vaudois were holding forth to the world the spectacle of -reverent faith in the promises of their God. They trusted in Him, and -they believed that that fervent trust would never be confounded.</p> - -<p>As the notes of Madeleine’s evening psalm died down on the hill-side, a -figure raised itself from behind a jutting crag and crept stealthily off -in the darkness. The two women, well used to the desolate mountains, -slept serene and safe in the hut. Rénée’s head rested on her -foster-mother’s arm, and over the sweet flower-like face there was -spread the<a name="page_117" id="page_117"></a> reflection of the peace that passeth understanding. The evil -mood that had tried her faith was gone, and in its place had come the -nameless Light that shines from the Spirit of Comfort. She was dreaming, -not of Gaspard, nor of happy days past or come, but of her -Mother-Madeleine and her ‘Psalm of Confidence.’</p> - -<p>Yet all about that ruined hut were cruel and violent men, the hired -soldiery of the duke. Men little better than brigands, who had been sent -expressly upon work of rapine and slaughter, that a ‘strong hand’ might -crush the Vaudois now and for ever.</p> - -<p>The singing had roused the attention of the outpost of the troops that -had been thrown forward to keep the Giuliano Pass. A soldier had crept -forward to reconnoitre the advance of Arnaud, and his men had made the -Savoyards cautious, and the sound of a Huguenot hymn might mean serious -mischief. But the alarm died away in a brutal scoff, when the scout -brought news that it was no meeting of heretics, no vanguard of the -Vaudois army, but an aged woman and a young girl singing themselves to -sleep under the shattered roof of a herdsman’s hut.</p> - -<p>‘Leave them in peace,’ ordered the captain, an old soldier, who was -weary from his forced march,<a name="page_118" id="page_118"></a> and who wished for undisturbed repose. ‘If -those two hundred hounds of mine start such a quarry, there will be no -quiet for hours. So hold thy tongue an thou canst, Antoine, and go back -to thy post. Dost hear? It is well.’</p> - -<p>But when the sun had climbed the morning sky, and the scented tassels of -the pines were swaying to the breeze stealing from the snow-fields, when -the soldiers had shaken off their slumbers and were clamouring for their -morning meal, they might do what they pleased with such trifles as a -couple of defenceless women, for all their captain cared.</p> - -<p>There were, as he said, but two hundred of them; but half that number -might hold the Giuliano Pass; the Vaudois were marching southwards by -Rodoret and Prali, as the duke’s troops were all aware. What mattered -it? Arnaud and his horde of fanatics might beat themselves to pieces -against the swords of the soldiers without risk or loss to that two -hundred, so wonderfully did the rocks stand round the forge, an -entrenchment and barrier stronger than mortal hands could build, a -fastness which neither Arnaud nor his mountaineers could force.</p> - -<p>The captain laughed as he glanced up at the cliffs towering towards the -snows. Ah, yes! it would be strange indeed if his two hundred could not -hold<a name="page_119" id="page_119"></a> the Giuliano Pass against greater odds than Arnaud was likely to -bring.</p> - -<p>When at peep of day rude hands flung open the hut door, and ruder voices -called across the empty space, there fell a brief silence of surprise -upon the group of men. The hut was vacant: the quarry had fled.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i120_lg.jpg"> -<br /> -<img class="enlargeimage" -src="images/enlarge-image.jpg" -alt="Image not available: " -width="18" -height="14" /> -<br /> -<img src="images/i120_sml.jpg" width="233" height="232" alt="Image not available: THE HUT WAS VACANT." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">THE HUT WAS VACANT.</span> -</div> - -<p>Whither? Who could tell? As well hunt for the proverbial needle amongst -a bundle of hay as seek two women of the valleys amongst their native -wilds. They might carry news to Arnaud—true,<a name="page_120" id="page_120"></a> but Arnaud might have the -news and welcome! He was not likely to profit much by it.</p> - -<p>So the soldiers hung their camp-kettles over their fires and pushed -chestnuts into the edges of the ashes and made ready their morning meal, -blythe as the birds in the copse of birches below them. And yonder where -the mighty mountains sloped northward and eastward towards Prali, -Madeleine and her foster-child sped through the forest paths with pale -looks and quickened breathings. They had lived through so much, escaped -so much, but perhaps the fiercest danger was this last—the Savoy guard -on the Giuliano Pass.</p> - -<p>Madeleine’s quick ear had caught the sound of voices, and a very little -investigation had shown her the nest of hornets amidst which she and -Rénée had lain down to rest. They were well used to see danger staring -them in the face, but even Madeleine’s heart grew sick with fear as they -threaded the stony ways in that gleaming midsummer dawn. A false step -might betray them, and how have cool caution sufficient to plant each -step silently down those difficult paths?<a name="page_121" id="page_121"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">O</span><small>NCE</small> clear of the defile, with its perils, the two women hurried -onwards, each turn of the hills revealing some well-remembered scene to -Madeleine. There, below, was Prali, where she had lived when a girl; -those tall poplars by the waters seemed to be unchanged since the days -when she had driven her cows into their shadow; and there away to the -right was the gleam of water where the thirteen lakes lay in the snowy -mountain spurs like dew-drops in the bosom of a rose; and surely no rose -could be lovelier than was the snow at that moment, as the sun broke -through the level mists that veiled his dawning.</p> - -<p>‘It was my father’s home, Rénée,’ the woman murmured wistfully, ‘my -home, where I played with my brothers, where I sat spinning at my -mother’s side, where Henri Botta came and taught me how to love him. -Long ago—ah, yes, so long ago! There is the church, look, Rénée; there -was a bell in the wooden tower that used to ring for prayer. The papists -say often that we Vaudois do not pray;<a name="page_122" id="page_122"></a> had they lived in Prali they had -learned better things of us. Rénée, child, tell me canst thou see the -tower? thine eyes are clearer than mine, canst thou see it, the little -red tower with its painted bell-cage? It was Henri, my brave Henri, that -reared it, it was that building-task that brought him to Prali. Ah, how -long ago!’</p> - -<p>‘And I shall never see him on earth again!’ she went on more to herself -than to Rénée.</p> - -<p>‘I shall never hear his voice, as when evening brought him home to me at -Prali and at Rora; but he is in higher hands than ours, ah, yes. And I -know that in the land of light I shall see him and hear him, when these -turmoils and troubles are past. Only a little while more, a very short -while, and our Master will call me too.’</p> - -<p>‘It must not be that I am left behind,’ said Rénée, with a girl’s swift -thought of self. ‘Thou art all I have, mother, and we must die -together.’</p> - -<p>The woman turned slowly from regarding the distance, and let her eyes -rest upon the sweet sad face so near her own. ‘That is as the Master -wills,’ she answered softly. ‘He loves thee better than I do.’</p> - -<p>‘Yes,’ answered Rénée, a smile breaking over the sorrow of her mouth. -‘Yes, I know it now.’</p> - -<p>It was true; in the thick darkness the Day-star had arisen for her, the -faint and far-off glimmer of<a name="page_123" id="page_123"></a> God’s great light of truth. Earthly trial -and torture bites sharply, and such griefs as had beaten on Rénée -Janavel and on her people may well demand human courage and break human -hearts; but the truth was true for them, as it is true for all time, -that God’s love is stronger than pain, that in the midst of sorrow His -comfort can be sweet, and that even ‘men’s fierceness shall turn to His -praise.’</p> - -<p>They were far from the crest of the Giuliano Pass by this time, and they -could hear no sign of pursuit. They turned aside to rest awhile on a -grassy slope which broke the hill-side with its long terrace, a lovely -stretch of sward, where flowers gleamed amongst the grass, and the bees -were flying heavily above the patches of wild-thyme. The shadow of a -birch-tree crossed it, making a trembling play of light and shade in the -strong sunshine; and below this clear space of grass and flowers there -came a tossed and tangled brake, full of creeping plants and broken -stones, and tussocks of moss, and the stately spires of some alpine -larkspur crowded thick with bloom.</p> - -<p>Here they sat, silent for the most part, for their hearts were too full -for much speech, but between them lay a sacred sympathy that scarcely -needed words.</p> - -<p>Madeleine’s yearning eyes were still seeking out<a name="page_124" id="page_124"></a> familiar landmarks, -her memory was busy with the past; but her fingers were closed tightly -over her foster-child’s hand, and the sense of Rénée’s presence lay in -the background of her thoughts as the blue sky lay behind those birchen -boughs. And the girl’s head drooped and her eyes were downcast, but her -soul was steady and stilled. God’s ways might be mysterious and His -lessons hard, but the ways and the lessons were those of her Father, and -she could trust His love.</p> - -<p>Then, suddenly, over the peace and the stillness there fell a horror of -alarm.</p> - -<p>Down below them, coming by the poplar rows and the river-bank, were -armed men. They could see the regular ranks, and catch the gleam of -steel. <i>Soldiers!</i> And to these hunted women of the valleys that word -meant terror and the danger of death.</p> - -<p>Should they hide themselves amongst the stones and trees? Should they -fly to the right or left?</p> - -<p>‘Ah,’ Rénée’s hand clutched her mother’s convulsively as the cry left -her lips, ‘they are all about us; see!’</p> - -<p>Dark forms were climbing the hill-side on either hand. Below them was -that marching troop. Behind them was the guard of the Giuliano Pass. Was -there then any hope in flight?<a name="page_125" id="page_125"></a></p> - -<p>They shrank back into the shadow of the birch, a flickering and slight -shadow at best, but any movement might betray them if they crossed the -bare slope; sunlight so strong as that which bathed the grass would -reveal them only too sharply. Madeleine hid her face in her hands, and -lifted her heart in prayer. Rénée watched the approaching figures with -wide-open defiant eyes, her beautiful head held back like a stag at bay; -she threw her black cloak over the white coif and kerchief of her -foster-mother, and flung her own scarlet capucin into the shadow; it -came naturally to her to protect her mother—Madeleine, but even as she -covered and sheltered her the thought came flashing through her brain -that it was now for the last time. Surely the end had come.</p> - -<p>There could be no escape. The troops were advancing rapidly, led by -those who apparently knew every feature of the ground. The scouts were -close upon them now, the sound of their feet crashing through the -underwood could be distinctly heard, even the hoarse tones of their -voices and the clank of their accoutrements. Madeleine cowered yet -lower, and a whispered word of prayer came like a groan from her lips.</p> - -<p>And then, starting forwards with a jerk as of a bow released from its -tension, Rénée snatched her<a name="page_126" id="page_126"></a> hands from her mother’s hold, and held them -out with a ringing cry.</p> - -<p>‘Gaspard!’ she called, ‘Gaspard!’</p> - -<p>The hill above her echoed it, the dear, long-unuttered word; and -Madeleine, bewildered, repeated it in her turn, as if speaking in a -dream. ‘Gaspard! Gaspard!’</p> - -<p>And there were hurrying steps bounding over the brake, and a voice loud -and strong calling across the distance. And then....</p> - -<p>But neither Rénée nor Madeleine could remember very clearly what -happened then. They knew that, instead of danger, help had come, instead -of death a newer and dearer life, instead of the faces of their foes the -sight of their best-beloved.</p> - -<p>And there on the hill-slopes where he had first beheld her Henri Botta -met his wife again. Safe after perils unspeakable; together after -bitterest separation. Was it strange that for the moment they forgot -that there was still trouble and trial in God’s fair world, and that -while the golden sunshine lay bright upon the grass they should, for -those brief minutes at least, forget that the Vaudois had yet to win the -valleys?</p> - -<p>‘Rénée,’ whispered Gaspard, holding the girl’s hands in both his own, -and looking down into her frank eyes as he spoke, ‘Rénée, I trusted thee -to the<a name="page_127" id="page_127"></a></p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i128_lg.jpg"> -<br /> -<img class="enlargeimage" -src="images/enlarge-image.jpg" -alt="Image not available: " -width="18" -height="14" /> -<br /> -<img src="images/i128_sml.jpg" width="367" height="205" alt="Image not available: ‘GASPARD!’ SHE CALLED, ‘GASPARD!’" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">‘GASPARD!’ SHE CALLED, ‘GASPARD!’</span> -</div> - -<p><a name="page_128" id="page_128"></a></p> - -<p><a name="page_129" id="page_129"></a></p> - -<p class="nind">care of our Father above, and He has preserved thee alive.’</p> - -<p>‘But I,’ and her answering voice sunk and broke, ‘but I have been -faithless—unworthy. I have doubted. I have despaired.’</p> - -<p>The tramp of the main body of Arnaud’s army was close upon them. Gaspard -remembered his place, which was on the advance guard.</p> - -<p>‘I must go,’ he said hurriedly. ‘At our noonday halt I shall find thee. -My father and mother and thee—keep together, keep with the troops. -Farewell for a short while, dear one; and may God grant us each a braver -faith, and then a larger heart of thankfulness!’<a name="page_130" id="page_130"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">T</span><small>HE</small> two women could give Arnaud very full and important information as -to the whereabouts of the enemy. Madeleine, who knew every yard of the -ground, could explain just where a passage was possible, exactly where -the best hope lay of forcing or outflanking the Savoy guard. In their -hurried escape at daybreak they had seen the spot chosen for the defence -of the pass, and they could guess at the number of men entrenched behind -the giant boulders, and the means they had taken to render the natural -defences of the place impregnable.</p> - -<p>The Vaudois halted about three or four miles from the crest of the -gorge, well on the Prali side, and out of sight of the duke’s men. There -was not one amongst them all but knew the enormous importance of the -next few hours. If they were repulsed and beaten back, the Marquis de -Larrey, who was in command of the French troops beyond the Doire, or the -Marquis de Parelle, who held the Valley of St. Martino, would be on -their track, and<a name="page_131" id="page_131"></a></p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i132_lg.jpg"> -<br /> -<img class="enlargeimage" -src="images/enlarge-image.jpg" -alt="Image not available: " -width="18" -height="14" /> -<br /> -<img src="images/i132_sml.jpg" width="431" height="288" alt="Image not available: THE ROCK OF BALSILLE." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">THE ROCK OF BALSILLE.</span> -</div> - -<p><a name="page_132" id="page_132"></a></p> - -<p><a name="page_133" id="page_133"></a></p> - -<p class="nind">they must die on the threshold of their own land, like rats caught in a -trap. There was no time for much calculation. Arnaud drew his men -together, and briefly told them what they must do.</p> - -<p>‘Beyond the pass is the vale of Luserna, Angrogna, and the homes we -love. The pass is held by two, perhaps three, or even four hundred -troops. We must force it, or die. God, who hath helped thus far, will -not forsake us now. Ask His aid, Vaudois, not with your lips only, but -with your lifted hearts. His strength is with us, as He hath indeed -shown us from the moment we left the wood at Nyon. For my part, I can -trust Him to give us victory even here. What say you, Vaudois?’</p> - -<p>There was a hoarse murmur, a sound more significant than articulate -words. The haggard, hungry faces were alight with a living faith, an -ardent hope.</p> - -<p>‘Lead on,’ said one in whom they trusted, Montoux, the second in command -to Arnaud. ‘Lead on! a blow struck swiftly needs not to be struck twice. -Two hundred or four, what matters it, since they must be encountered? -and so lead on.’</p> - -<p>Then Henri Botti stepped to the front, leading Madeleine.</p> - -<p>‘My wife well knows these hills; here she was reared, and her father’s -farm stretched yonder up<a name="page_134" id="page_134"></a> towards Mount Cornan. She crossed the pass -this morning at the sunrising, and saw where the enemy lies to bar our -path. There is a way, a toilsome and dangerous way truly, but still one -that can be trodden by Vaudois’ feet, and it will lead us out beyond the -crown of the defile, beyond the garrison that holds it against us.’</p> - -<p>‘It is really so,’ said Madeleine, speaking out simply before them all. -‘The path is scarcely more than a track for wild goats, but it will -serve.’</p> - -<p>‘Aye, it will serve,’ said Arnaud. ‘Gaspard Botta, do thou go with thy -mother in advance. And as for this maiden——’</p> - -<p>‘She stays at my side, an it please thee,’ interrupted the foster-mother -quickly. ‘She is my comfort, my charge, my daughter that is to be—Rénée -Janavel of Rora.’</p> - -<p>The name was enough. Some few who had looked grave at the idea of -trusting at so important a crisis to a woman’s guidance turned eagerly -to look at this girl, the descendant of the old chief Janavel, the man -who was waiting even now at Geneva to hear how they had fared. She had -something of his bearing too, the same high brow and lofty carriage of -the head; ah, yes, it was only fitting that one of the name of Janavel -should lead again the warriors of the valleys.<a name="page_135" id="page_135"></a></p> - -<p>Long afterwards the story was told in Vaudois’ homes of how the Pass of -Guliano was won; of how the mountaineers crept along the dangerous ways, -winning foothold and advancement where it was hard to believe that armed -men could go; and always before them was Madeleine Botta, hale and noble -in her age and homely dignity; and at her side, with hand held ever out -to aid her foster-mother, and eye watchful for each sign of danger, trod -the grandchild of their hero, Rénée Janavel. And over and over the tale -was repeated how the enemy broke and fled, leaving behind them -provision, ammunition, and baggage; a welcome store for the men who came -empty and poor in all things save belief in their cause and faith in -their God.</p> - -<p>Before the sun set the Savoy guard were fugitives on the mountain side, -and the Vaudois stood shoulder to shoulder on the Col di St. Guliano, -gazing down on the Luserna Valley, the very heart of their fatherland, -the goal of their dearest hopes.</p> - -<p>There was a renewed strength in Henri Botta’s face and mien as he led -his wife into the rear, and brought her food from the Savoy stores, and -water to bathe her bruised and bleeding feet. And as he tended her and -Rénée he turned to kiss the forehead of his adopted child with fervent -love and pride.</p> - -<p>‘God has indeed blessed me, since my old eyes<a name="page_136" id="page_136"></a> behold once more not only -Piedmont, but you!’ he said, turning from one to the other, as if he -found it hard to believe that they were there in very flesh and blood.</p> - -<p>‘I have dreamed of you often—of you and of the old house at Rora; as I -have dreamed sometimes of God’s angels and the fields of heaven. This -then is true,’ he laid his knotted hand on Madeleine’s. ‘I verily -behold! and the other dream, the heavenly one, is yet to be realised.’</p> - -<p>Rénée was crying softly, for very joy and weariness; it was sweet to -feel that the lonely struggle was over at last, that she and her mother, -Madeleine, were encircled with friendly care, and held safe in loving -companionship. The long months and years of hiding and terror were -past—the waiting-time had ended in content. And yet the Vaudois had but -entered the borders of their Canaan, the victory was yet to be gained, -the return was yet to be accomplished.</p> - -<p>Arnaud knew that this was so, and his look, though as firm of faith as -ever, was grave to sadness as he gazed down on Luserna from the Col di -St. Guliano. He knew that hitherto his men had conquered by the wild -dash of their onslaught, by the sudden and unexpected way they attacked -the French and Savoy troops. This could not continue.<a name="page_137" id="page_137"></a></p> - -<p>No reinforcements could come from the wasted Vaudois villages, no -ammunition could be reckoned on save what they could wrench from the -enemy, unless it were the stones from the hill-side which might be used -instead of bullets; and as for food they must trust to the half-ripe -corn in the fields, and to the produce of such farms as dotted the glens -and slopes.</p> - -<p>Every day would raise fresh difficulties for them—every mile of ground -must be gained by battle, and held by costly strife; and as the struggle -swept here and there through the valleys how were the wounded to be -tended, or the dead to have Christian burial?</p> - -<p>It was no wonder that Arnaud’s brow was lined with anxious thought, as -his glance swept the country lying before the entrance to the pass. -There was stern work in front of his men, and he knew it.</p> - -<p>The next day the Vaudois took Bobbio without much difficulty, and they -attacked the large town of Villaro in the midst of the Luserna Valley. -This latter place was defended by veteran troops, and the duke’s general -succeeded in thronging into it a large body of reinforcements: and then -what Arnaud had foreseen occurred. The Vaudois were beaten back, and -obliged to disperse, scattering themselves over<a name="page_138" id="page_138"></a> the Vandalin range, the -very ground where Henri Botta and his sons had retreated before that -terrible storm of death and fanaticism in 1686. The papal forces had -triumphed then, the mountaineers were driven like autumn leaves before a -gale. Was this to be their fate again, now, after such high hopes and -glorious imaginings?</p> - -<p>Their chronicler writes: ‘The defeat at Villaro changed their tactics; -henceforth they attacked rarely, and then only convoys, advanced posts, -and detached columns. They entrenched themselves in mountainous retreats -difficult of access, in natural fortresses easy of defence, while their -detachments scoured the country to obtain provisions. It was on the -declivities of their mountains, in the centre of their verdant pastures, -once covered with their flocks, but now solitary, that they prepared to -sell their lives as dearly as might be; decided, as they were, to die in -their heritage, on their widowed and desolate soil, or to wring from -their prince an honourable peace, and freedom to worship their God.’</p> - -<p>But during these trial days they had what they lacked in 1686. Arnaud -was their leader, their comforter, their minister. With a courage that -never flagged, and a simple faith that was as strong as the sunlight, he -preached to them the old enthusiastic trust in the power and the grace -of God.<a name="page_139" id="page_139"></a></p> - -<p>These critical days lasted throughout September, and on the 22nd of -October two thousand French troops crossed the frontier, to unite with -the duke’s forces, and once more ‘sweep the valleys clean of heresy.’ -Then Arnaud called a council, and asked each man if he had any plan to -propose, any refuge or resource to indicate. But, for the most part, -they recognised the dire necessity of the case, without being able to -advise a remedy.</p> - -<p>‘We can conquer the villages, we can force the passes,’ they said sadly, -‘but we cannot hold possession of the valleys—we, so poor a remnant, so -helpless a company.’</p> - -<p>‘Neither so poor nor so helpless as those with less righteousness in -their cause,’ said Gaspard Botta. But he was a young man, and modest, as -became his years, therefore his words were almost unheard in the -conclave.</p> - -<p>It was the leader, Arnaud, who decided on what was to be done. At best -it was but a forlorn hope.</p> - -<p>Northwards, just within the frontiers of the Vaudois valleys, is -Balsille, a village on the Germanasque stream: here Arnaud determined to -make a stand. It was a natural fortress, and strong enough, he thought, -to be held—at least throughout the winter.</p> - -<p>It is a wonderful citadel, this Rock of Balsille: a<a name="page_140" id="page_140"></a> lofty hill broken -into terraces, with fountains of water, and a peak commanding the -country for miles around, where sentinels might give timely warning of -the advance of the foe. Here they were savagely attacked by the whole -strength of the French troops; but the soldiers beat against the place -in vain, for the mountaineers had seized every corner of vantage, and -had strengthened by earthworks and entrenchments the almost precipitous -cliff.<a name="page_141" id="page_141"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> - -<p class="nind"><span class="letra">T</span><small>HE</small> siege for weeks went on—uselessly. And then, as the days grew cold -and dark, the French retired to seek winter quarters. They flung a -jibing message to the Vaudois, bidding them have patience, and wait for -them there until Easter.</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i142_lg.jpg"> -<br /> -<img class="enlargeimage" -src="images/enlarge-image.jpg" -alt="Image not available: " -width="18" -height="14" /> -<br /> -<img src="images/i142_sml.jpg" width="132" height="179" alt="Image not available: " /></a> -</div> - -<p>But, meanwhile, how was the Rock of Balsille to be provisioned? The -enemy had burned the corn-stacks and granges in the valley, and had -carried off every eatable thing to be found. Starvation came very -closely into the Vaudois’ reckoning in those early winter days, and -starvation might have done the work in which the French had failed and -conquered the garrison there and then, had it not been for a discovery -of Rénée Janavel’s.<a name="page_142" id="page_142"></a></p> - -<p>She had wandered into the valley, past the mill of Macel, and along the -banks of the river, seeking something, if it were but a few frost-bitten -cabbages, wherewith to make soup for her Mother-Madeleine. She was -unsuccessful; the ground had been searched over and over again; not a -leaf of salad, not an edible root was to be found. Icicles hung to the -idle mill-wheel and fringed the edges of the stream. Long wisps of -grasses lay dead and drifted in the water; and the dark sky stooped so -low and frowningly that the peak of the Balsille had pierced the clouds -and was out of sight beyond the lowering vapours.</p> - -<p>Rénée was cold, and she was hungry, yet her eye was bright and her heart -was lightsome; privation and suffering were not so hard to bear when -safe in the love of those who loved her—the trials of the Balsille were -small compared to the silence and the waiting-time in that cave in the -vale of Luserna. She wrapped her tattered cloak more tightly round her, -and shook the loosened hair from her eyes. She might even have been -heard singing to herself as she crossed the wide snow-covered land that -stretched by the banks of the river.</p> - -<p>Suddenly she noticed a spot where some animal had been scratching in the -snow. Could it be straw, grain—eatable, useful <i>food</i>, that lay there -under the<a name="page_143" id="page_143"></a> white crust, frozen beneath the snow? She flung herself on -her knees, and began to search further and deeper. Presently a burning -flush came on her cheeks, an eager light to her eyes.</p> - -<p>There was rye beneath the snow. Rye, ripe and plentiful! weighed down, -hidden and preserved by the thick white covering that had lain unmelted -since the heavy storm of last September. Whole fields of rye! unreaped -by the fugitive owners, unguessed at by the troops that had trodden -across that white expanse, little dreaming of the treasure beneath their -feet.</p> - -<p>The girl ran back to the Balsille, and, panting, told her tale. -Gaspard’s face flushed with proud joy as he heard her; he rejoiced that -it was his Rénée that was bringing help to the Vaudois, that it should -be the grandchild of Janavel who was the bearer of the best news that -could come to the starving and half-desperate people.</p> - -<p>‘It is our God’s granary!’ said Henri Botta, solemnly. ‘Our Father, who -Himself stored His corn for us thus.’</p> - -<p>And were not the words true? The God who feedeth the young lions when -they cry had not forgotten His servants in the time of their need.</p> - -<p>So the silent mill-stones of Marcel revolved once<a name="page_144" id="page_144"></a> more, and the scent -of the dry grain was as fragrance in the nostrils of the mountaineers. -‘We shall be ready for the foe at Easter,’ they said, and their -light-hearted laughter rung out on the wind.</p> - -<p>But their case was too grave and their position too perilous for a few -acres of rye to be their salvation. When Easter came they were still -holding the Balsille; but as Arnaud called them together for the daily -service of prayer, he noted how their ranks had shrunk, and he saw how -sickness had reduced the strength of such as still called themselves -fighting men.</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p>The foe returned in early spring; a foe numbering now no less than -twenty-two thousand! Arnaud and his feeble garrison could muster but -about six hundred! surely an insignificant garrison to call forth such -an armament for its reduction. Cannon were planted on the opposite hill; -batteries were cast up on all sides. The Balsille must be taken now, -were the Vaudois as obstinate as the <i>barbets</i> their enemies had -scoffingly likened them to. A flag of truce was sent to them, and they -were summoned for the last time to surrender.</p> - -<p>Arnaud’s answer is historical. ‘We are no subjects of the King of -France,’ he said. ‘We<a name="page_145" id="page_145"></a> cannot treat with his officers. We are in the -heritage left us by our fathers from times unknown; by the aid and grace -of the Lord of Hosts we will live and die therein. Discharge your -artillery; our rocks will not be terrified, and we will listen to the -thunder with calmness, should there be but ten of us left!’</p> - -<p>The defiance was as lofty in tone as ever, but yet the heart of the man -who sent that proud answer had been brought very low. His trust did not -fail him, nor his submission to God’s will, but he had begun to think -that it must be this will of God that he and his men should die there on -the hills of their country, and that the race of the Vaudois should -perish from the earth. ‘Even so, Father, since it is good in Thy sight!’</p> - -<p>On the 14th of May they saw the Balsille could no longer be defended. -Flight only remained; and once more they must begin the weary wanderings -amongst caves and holes in the rocks, chased as David was chased by Saul -on the hills of Palestine. Covered by a dense fog, they crept through -the French lines, a woeful wreck and remnant, flying to their hill -hiding-places, afraid lest word or step should betray them to immediate -slaughter. Southwards they fled; down through Prali towards the -mountains of Angrogna.<a name="page_146" id="page_146"></a></p> - -<p>‘Mother,’ said Rénée, ‘this wild journeying will kill thee. We women can -never keep up with the march of our troops. Is it not better to stay -here where we stand? we can but die.’</p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i147_lg.jpg"> -<br /> -<img class="enlargeimage" -src="images/enlarge-image.jpg" -alt="Image not available: " -width="18" -height="14" /> -<br /> -<img src="images/i147_sml.jpg" width="231" height="206" alt="Image not available: MESSENGERS APPROACHING." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">MESSENGERS APPROACHING.</span> -</div> - -<p>But Madeleine laid her hand against her lips. ‘Courage yet, dear child. -It is nearly over now.’</p> - -<p>Nearly over—aye, but in another sense than that she meant.</p> - -<p>On the 18th of May two men met the flying Vaudois. They were messengers -from Victor Amadeus, and messengers to them.<a name="page_147" id="page_147"></a></p> - -<p>A strange message they bore. England, Germany, Holland, and Spain had -formed a coalition against Louis XIV., and had called upon the Duke of -Savoy to decide at once whether he would join their alliance or hold to -his friendship with France. He had decided; and on the side of the -strongest; therefore the French were now his enemies; and he sent to ask -whether Arnaud and his mountaineers would enrol themselves on the side -of Savoy, and help to drive Louis’ men back across the frontier. If -Arnaud consented, the valleys were to be placed there and then under his -protection and control.</p> - -<p>Could it be true? ‘Protection,’ ‘control.’ Strange words in the ears of -the handful of hunted outcasts who were flying for their lives. But to -enforce the news and prove its truth the Piedmontese garrison of La -Torre sent out food and gifts of clothing, which were indeed sorely -needed; and other messengers came from the duke, repeating the same tale -and demanding instant reply. And presently—most conclusive proof of -all—their minister, Montoux, and others who had been carried prisoners -to Turin, came hurrying to meet them in transports of joy.</p> - -<p>Yes, it was true! God had remembered His promise, and had been faithful -to His word. The trust<a name="page_148" id="page_148"></a> of the Vaudois had not been in vain, the -struggle was over—the victory was won!</p> - -<p>Before many months were past the Vaudois were re-established in their -homes; from the east and west they came, flocking homewards to their -land won for them by Arnaud and his heroes. Or, rather as they -themselves would say, the land restored to them by the grace of their -Father in heaven.</p> - -<p>The sharp endurance, the agony, the exile—all, all was past, and for -the years to come they and their children’s children might lift humble -hearts in thankfulness that God had honoured them by letting them bear -such witness for His truth.</p> - -<p>The charter of their freedom was given at last. The valleys were their -own; their faith was secure.</p> - -<p class="cbt">. -. . . . . . .</p> - -<p>A white-walled cottage in Rora stood smothered in vines, and resonant -with children’s voices. Here Rénée, sweet-eyed as of old, albeit of -matronly air and manner, watches for Gaspard’s coming from his work as -her busy hands ply distaff or needle, and her foot keeps the rocker of -the cradle moving in time to her song.</p> - -<p>It is a song in which an aged voice joins now and again as Mother -Madeleine catches the well-known burden of the words—a song which the -Vaudois have<a name="page_149" id="page_149"></a> chanted since the hour of their ‘Glorious Return’; not the -‘Psalm of Strong Confidence,’ but the song of their triumph.</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">‘If it had not been the Lord was on our side<br /></span> -<span class="i1">When men rose up against us,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Then they had swallowed us up quick, and the stream had gone over our soul:<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us<br /></span> -<span class="i1">As a prey to their teeth!<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Our soul is escaped as a bird from the snare.<br /></span> -<span class="i1">The snare is broken, and we are escaped!<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Our help is in the Name of the Lord,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">The Lord who made heaven and earth.’<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/i150_lg.jpg"> -<br /> -<img class="enlargeimage" -src="images/enlarge-image.jpg" -alt="Image not available: " -width="18" -height="14" /> -<br /> -<img src="images/i150_sml.jpg" width="269" height="171" alt="Image not available: " /></a> -</div> - -<p><a name="page_150" id="page_150"></a></p> - -<p><a name="page_151" id="page_151"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="APPENDIX" id="APPENDIX"></a>APPENDIX.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p class="hang">THE INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN TO HIS COMPATRIOTS BY JOSHUA JANAVEL, WHO -WAS TOO OLD TO ACCOMPANY THEM ON THEIR ‘GLORIOUS RETURN.’</p></div> - -<p class="nind">T<small>HE</small> Lord not permitting me, to my great sorrow, by reason of my -infirmity, to follow you, I considered it my duty to neglect nothing for -the good of my poor country: therefore I give you in writing my ideas as -to the course you should take on the way, and in your engagements and -attacks, if the Lord mercifully bring you to your mountains, as I hope, -and I pray God with all my heart that He may prosper everything to His -glory and the re-establishment of His Church. I beg you, therefore, to -take in good part the contents of this letter.</p> - -<p>If our Church has been reduced to such an extremity, our sin is the real -cause thereof. We must more and more every day humble ourselves before -God, and earnestly crave pardon ... ever having recourse to Him; and -when troubles arise be patient, redouble your courage, so that<a name="page_152" id="page_152"></a> <i>there -may be nothing firmer than your faith</i>. Therefore doubt not that God -will preserve you and accomplish your projects to His glory and the -advancement of the kingdom of Jesus Christ.</p> - -<p>As soon as you reach the enemy’s territory, you must seize three or four -men of the place, wherever you find them: then you must make them march -with you from place to place, and when you reach some part where there -is danger of alarms, you must send one of these men with one of your own -to give notice to the peasants to trouble themselves about nothing, and -that you will do them no harm or injury, if only they let you pass.... -And if you want anything you must pay them fairly.</p> - -<p>You must behave as prudently as possible for the sake of your -neighbours, the Swiss Lords, who should be your friends.</p> - -<p>Moreover, as to the management of the war, provided that God in His -mercy allows you to go whither you desire, you must, every one of you, -fall on your knees, raise your eyes and hands to heaven, your heart and -soul to the Lord in earnest prayer, that He will give you His Spirit, -and enable you to choose the most capable amongst you to lead the -others.</p> - -<p>In the evening you must all gather together to<a name="page_153" id="page_153"></a> offer prayer to God. You -must place numerous sentinels, using the most timorous of your soldiers -for the evening and throughout the night, and the boldest and most -expert towards daylight.</p> - -<p>When you see the enemy approaching, let them draw as near as possible: -fire at first upon the officers, make no ill-timed discharge, and be -prompt in re-charging your arms, and, if possible, have bullets which -exactly fit the bore of the gun, to ensure straight firing.</p> - -<p>When you pursue or make a search for the enemy, put soldiers in the -field to attack the flanks of the troops, but never allow the head to -advance without notice from the flank; in this way you will all be safe, -and Christ’s Church also, <i>provided you be faithful Christians</i>.</p> - -<p>In every encounter take great care to spare innocent or useless blood, -so as not to have to answer for it before God; and, above all, be not -overcome by fear or by anger; then will the sword of the Lord, as well -as His grace, be with you, and he who trusts in the living God shall -never perish.</p> - -<p>Whoever passes over to the enemy, unless he be taken prisoner arms in -hand, must be punished with death. He shall have the liberty of choosing -the persons by whom he is to be shot.<a name="page_154" id="page_154"></a></p> - -<p>Sentence of death must be passed upon anyone who remains on the field of -battle to plunder the enemy before orders from the captain.</p> - -<p>After the first battle it is desirable that your officers change clothes -with the more poorly clad members of their company. While on the march -there is no need to grant any quarter to prisoners.</p> - -<p>Trust neither the letters nor the words of the enemy: and it is when -they desire to confer that you must be most on your guard.</p> - -<p>When you make an attack you must have ambuscades in the flank, and after -making an advance you must fall back, so that the enemy may pursue you; -when the engagement occurs in the ambuscades, you must face about, and -so you will make many dead and wounded, for <i>such are the fruits of -war</i>.</p> - -<p>Spare converted families (<i>catholisées</i>), for otherwise God would be -grieved.</p> - -<p>If God grant that you reach your mountains, which I hope, you must first -know where your place of retreat is to be. If you are only six or seven -hundred strong, you must attack simultaneously the Valley of Luserna and -the Valley of St. Martin; but first fix your retreat, which should be in -the Valley of St. Martin, the <i>Balciglia</i>, and in the Valley of Luserna, -<i>Balmadaut</i>, <i>l’Aiguille</i>,<a name="page_155" id="page_155"></a> and <i>La Combe de Giausarand</i>, which was the -ancient retreat of our fathers.</p> - -<p>Always keep sentinels on the tops of the mountains, so as not to be -surprised from the Pragela side, and keep the passes clear from one -valley to the other. On the Col Julien place a guard composed of men -from each valley—half from one, half from the other.</p> - -<p>As for you others of the <i>Balciglia</i>, he continues, you are all men of -strength and used to toil; therefore spare no pains in well fortifying -this point, which will be a very strong retreat for you.</p> - -<p>In case you are attacked by a large number of troops, you must withdraw -altogether to the most convenient places, such as <i>Balmadaut</i>, -<i>Sarcena</i>, <i>La Combe de Giausarand</i>, and <i>l’Aiguille</i>; but leave the -<i>Balciglia only at the last extremity</i>. They will not fail to tell you -that you cannot hold out for ever, and that all France and Italy will -turn upon you rather than you should succeed; but <i>say that you fear -nothing, not even death, and that if the whole world were against you, -and you alone against the whole world, you fear only the Almighty who is -your Protector</i>.</p> - -<p>To regain possession of your valleys, he says, you must first seize that -of St. Martin. To make<a name="page_156" id="page_156"></a> a successful attack, you must form three -companies,—one to occupy the mountain tops, the second to keep the -Bridge of the Tour (near Pomaret), and the third must be divided into -two, to invest Perrier. It is very necessary to take Perrier, as -otherwise no assistance or retreat is possible without discovery.</p> - -<p>As to the Valley of Luserna, the highest mountain must be reached, and -promptness must be exercised in sending half of the soldiers down the -rivers to cut the bridges, then to stand their ground in planting -ambushes in suitable and narrow places. The Bridge of Subiasq must be -strongly guarded, to prevent the carrying off of cattle and provisions.</p> - -<p>As to the town of Bobbio, I do not believe that the enemy will encamp -there. As to Villar, I will tell you by word of mouth what I think. I -will not commit it to writing. Tour must be invested at night, and -completely surrounded by fires, so that the smoke may serve as a screen -from the fire of the fort. As to St. Jean and Angrogna, I cannot tell -you all the plans proposed, and therefore you must act according to -circumstances.</p> - -<p>As soon as you have entered the valleys you must put up the ministers, -doctors, and wounded in the Serre-de-Cruel, and when the town of<a name="page_157" id="page_157"></a> Bobbio -is taken they should withdraw to Sarcena; and when Villar is taken, they -should go to Pertuzel, and when Tour is taken to Rua-de-Bonnet or to -Taillaret. Finally, when Pramol, Angrogna, and Rocheplatte are taken, -they must be removed to Pra-du-Tor, whence they will bestow their care -and good advice upon the people of both valleys.</p> - -<p class="c"> -W. RIDER, AND SON, PRINTERS, LONDON.<br /> -</p> - -<p><a name="page_158" id="page_158"></a></p> - -<p><a name="transcrib" id="transcrib"></a></p> - -<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="" -style="padding:2%;border:3px dotted gray;"> -<tr><th align="center">Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber:</th></tr> -<tr><td align="center">1867, James II. was on the English throne=> 1687, James II. was on the English throne {pg 81}</td></tr> -<tr><td align="center">those whe loved her=> those who loved her {pg 142}</td></tr> -</table> - -<hr class="full" /> - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Glorious Return, by Crona Temple - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GLORIOUS RETURN *** - -***** This file should be named 50122-h.htm or 50122-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/0/1/2/50122/ - -Produced by Chris Curnow, Lindy Walsh, Chuck Greif and the -Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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