Determined conduct of Orange--Three days' tumult at Antwerp
suppressed by the wisdom and courage of Orange.

It was then that Noircarmes and his "seven sleepers" showed that they
were awake. Early in January, 1567, that fierce soldier, among whose
vices slothfulness was certainly never reckoned before or afterwards,
fell upon the locksmith's army at Zannoy, while the Seigneur de
Rassinghem attacked the force at Waterlots on the same day. Noircarmes
destroyed half his enemies at the very first charge. The ill-assorted
rabble fell asunder at once. The preacher fought well, but his
undisciplined force fled at the first sight of the enemy. Those who
carried arquebusses threw them down without a single discharge, that they
might run the faster. At least a thousand were soon stretched dead upon
the field; others were hunted into the river. Twenty-six hundred,
according to the Catholic accounts, were exterminated in an hour.

Rassinghem, on his part, with five or six hundred regulars, attacked
Teriel's force, numbering at least twice as many. Half of these were
soon cut to pieces and put to flight. Six hundred, however, who had seen
some service, took refuge in the cemetery of Waterlots. Here, from
behind the stone wall of the inclosure, they sustained the attack of the
Catholics with some spirit. The repose of the dead in the quiet country
church-yard was disturbed by the uproar of a most sanguinary conflict.
The temporary fort was soon carried, and the Huguenots retreated into the
church. A rattling arquebusade was poured in upon them as they struggled
in the narrow doorway. At least four hundred corpses were soon strewn
among the ancient graves. The rest were hunted, into the church, and
from the church into the belfry. A fire was then made in the steeple and
kept up till all were roasted or suffocated. Not a man escaped.