the Pré-aux-CIercs, and thence to escape to
the safest places of refuge at their disposal in
the country.

While they were preparing for departure,
news came that the ferryboats were
approaching the side of the river on which
they lived, all filled with soldiers armed to
the teeth.

Upon this, the fugitives mounted without
losing another instant, and made for the Pré-
aux-Clercs. The horses were ready for
M. de la Force and his brother. The Sieur de
Caumont rode off with the rest. M. de la
Force (who was a widower) was detained by
some difficulty in getting his two boys safely
on horseback — was detained so long that he
gave up all hope of joining the fugitives; and,
returning to his house, closed all the doors,
and determined to defend his children and
himself on his own hearth.

Defence, however, was hopeless against the
number of assailants who were now approaching
him. The street was filled with soldiers,
who threatened to break in the door if it was
not opened. It being only too evident that
they could execute their threat in. a few
minutes, their demand was complied with,
for the sake of not irritating them unnecessarily.

They rushed in at once, with their drawn
swords, headed by a Captain, named Martin,
and all shouting together, "Kill! kill!"
Their first proceeding was to disarm the
master and his servants, and to place them,
with the two boys, in a corner of the
room. "Any one of you who likes may say
his prayers, and had better be quick about
it," said Captain Martin; "for you will all
die together in five minutes' time."

M. de la Force, preserving his self-possession,
replied:

"Do what you will with me: I am
prepared to die, if need be, in five minutes' time.
But have some compassion on these children,
who have offended no one. By putting them
to death you will gain nothing. By preserving
their lives you may profit yourself
considerably, for I have the means of rewarding
your moderation by payment of a heavy
ransom."

This last argument made some impression
on Captain Martin and his men. They put
up their swords, and dispersed to pillage the
house. Being unable to find the necessary
keys (the person who kept them having taken
to flight), they burst open closed doors, and
broke open locked boxes in the court-yard.
In a short space of time, all the property of
M. de la Force, in money, plate, and clothes,
had passed into their keeping.

Having completed the pillage, Captain
Martin and his men came back to their
prisoners, and told them with many oaths that
die they must, as the soldiers had orders to
kill all the Huguenots in Paris, without
sparing anybody. M. de la Force again
appealed to them on their only weak point, the
love of money, and promised to ransom the
lives of himself, his children, and his servants
at the price of two thousand crowns. Captain
Martin looked at his men, pondered a little,
and then said roughly : "So be it. Follow me,
all of you."

Having got his prisoners into the court-
yard, he made them tear up their handkerchiefs,
and fix the strips in the form of a
cross on their hats. After which, he directed
them to turn up their right sleeves as high
as their shoulders. The cross on the hat and
the turned-up sleeve were peculiarities of
dress previously agreed upon to distinguish
the Papists from their Huguenot victims.
Thus protected from discovery, they were
taken across the river by Captain Martin,
without delay.

They were altogether five in number. The
father, the two boys, a man servant
named Gast, and a Page named La Vigerie.
On reaching the other side of the river, they
passed the bodies of murdered Huguenots,
weltering in their blood, at every step.
Captain Martin, without looking to the right
hand or the left, led his prisoners straight to
his own house; and, having bestowed them
there in safety, made ready to go out again,
and continue the work of murder and pillage
in his own neighbourhood. Before he went
away, however, he addressed himself to M.
de la Force, and insisted on that gentleman's
pledging his word of honour, that neither he
nor his children would attempt to escape
before the ransom was paid. Having been
satisfied on this point (for he knew well
enough that M. de la Force was a man who
held his promise sacred), he took himself off,
recommending the prisoners to be quick in
getting the money, and leaving two Swiss
soldiers to guard them in his absence.

M. de la Force, knowing the importance of
losing no time, immediately sent his
manservant, Gast, to his sister-in-law, Madame
de Brisembourg, who lived at the Arsenal.
Gast was to tell her all that had happened,
and to implore her to raise the sum of
money required for the ransom, as soon as
possible.

On his return to his master, Gast reported
that the lady would undertake to raise the
money and send it by the next day. She also
sent word that the news of the lives of her
brother-in-law and his children having been
spared, had already reached the ears of the
King, and that the worst consequences were
to be apprehended aa the result of that
unhappy circumstance.

Having delivered his message, the servant
implored his master to seek safety by flight—
the more especially as the two Swiss soldiers
appointed to watch the prisoners, were secretly
horrified at the massacre, and were perfectly
ready to let them go. But M. de la Force,
with a dauntless sense of honour, which would
have influenced few men at that moment,
and which no words can praise as it deserves