him his faithful dragoons, surrounded the garden, and caught and shot on
the spot all those who were assembled in it. The next day it turned out
that he had made a mistake: those whom he had shot were Catholics who had
gathered together to rejoice over the execution of the Calvinists. It is
true that they had assured the marshal that they were Catholics, but he
had refused to listen to them. Let us, however, hasten to assure the
reader that this mistake caused no further annoyance to the marshal,
except that he received a paternal remonstrance from the Bishop of Nimes,
begging him in future not to confound the sheep with the wolves.

In requital of these bloody deeds, Cavalier took the chateau of Serras,
occupied the town of Sauve, formed a company of horse, and advancing to
Nimes, took forcible possession of sufficient ammunition for his
purposes. Lastly, he did something which in the eyes of the courtiers
seemed the most incredible thing of all, he actually wrote a long letter
to Louis XIV himself. This letter was dated from the "Desert, Cevennes,"
and signed "Cavalier, commander of the troops sent by God"; its purpose
was to prove by numerous passages from Holy Writ that Cavalier and his
comrades had been led to revolt solely from a sense of duty, feeling that
liberty of conscience was their right; and it dilated on the subject of
the persecutions under which Protestants had suffered, and asserted that
it was the infamous measures put in force against them which had driven
them to take up arms, which they were ready to lay down if His Majesty
would grant them that liberty in matters of religion which they sought
and if he would liberate all who were in prison for their faith. If this
were accorded, he assured the king His Majesty would have no more
faithful subjects than themselves, and would henceforth be ready to shed
their last drop of blood in his service, and wound up by saying that if
their just demands were refused they would obey God rather than the king,
and would defend their religion to their last breath.