the noble purpose of preventing, as far as he could, massacre and
pillage. In this he was seconded by the officers under him, who were
actuated by the same philanthropic motives as their general in
identifying themselves with the corps. Owing to their exertions, the men
advanced in fairly regular order, and good discipline was maintained.
All the men carried muskets.

But the first corps was only a kind of vanguard to the second, which was
the real army, and a wonderful thing to see and hear. Never were brought
together before or since so many different kinds of howl, so many threats
of death, so many rags; so many odd weapons, from the matchlock of the
time of the Michelade to the steel-tipped goad of the bullock drovers of
La Camargue, so that when the Nimes mob; which in all conscience was
howling and ragged enough, rushed out to offer a brotherly welcome to the
strangers, its first feeling was one of astonishment and dismay as it
caught sight of the motley crew which held out to it the right hand of
fellowship.

The new-comers soon showed that it was through necessity and not choice
that their outer man presented such a disreputable appearance; for they
were hardly well within the gates before demanding that the houses of the
members of the old Protestant National Guard should be pointed out to
them.

This being done, they promptly proceeded to exact from each household a
musket, a coat, a complete kit, or a sum of money, according to their
humour, so that before evening those who had arrived naked and penniless
were provided with complete uniforms and had money in their pockets.
These exactions were levied under the name of a contribution, but before
the day was ended naked and undisguised pillage began.