Then making a sign with his hand that he wished to speak to them, he
said, "Gentlemen, surrender. I shall give quarter, and in return for the
ten lives I now spare you, will ask that my father, who is in prison at
Nimes, be released."

For sole answer, one of the officers fired and wounded the young chief's
horse in the head. Cavalier drew a pistol from his belt, took aim at the
officer and killed him, then turning again to the others, he asked,
"Gentlemen, are you as obstinate as your comrade, or do you accept my
offer?" A second shot was the reply, and a bullet grazed his shoulder.
Seeing that no other answer was to be hoped for, Cavalier turned to his
soldiers. "Do your duty," said he, and withdrew, to avoid seeing the
massacre. The nine officers were shot.

M. de La Jonquiere, who had received a slight wound in the cheek,
abandoned his horse in order to climb over a wall. On the other side he
made a dragoon dismount and give him his horse, on which he crossed the
river Gardon, leaving behind him on the battlefield twenty-five officers
and six hundred soldiers killed. This defeat was doubly disastrous to
the royal cause, depriving it of the flower of its officers, almost all
of those who fell belonging to the noblest families of France, and also
because the Camisards gained what they so badly needed, muskets, swords,
and bayonets in great quantities, as well as eighty horses, these latter
enabling Cavalier to complete the organisation of a magnificent troop of
cavalry.

The recall of the Marechal de Montrevel was the consequence of this
defeat, and M. de Villars, as he had anticipated, was appointed in his
place. But before giving up his governorship Montrevel resolved to
efface the memory of the check which his lieutenant's foolhardiness had