Page:Memoirs of a Huguenot Family.djvu/71

Rh. He then gave me in charge of two of his Archers, and he went with the rest to look for the other persons, against whom he held warrants. They scoured the country in all directions without finding any of my accomplices in prayer. They seized upon a poor ploughman, whose zeal had never been warm enough to carry him to any illegal assembly, and he felt both pained and embarrassed to be suffering persecution without the consolation of having deserved it. He was tied to the tail of a horse, and sent forward to the place of rendezvous, with an Archer for his guard, who was one of that tribe of booted missionaries who strove to make converts to his religion by oaths, threats and cruelties. He frightened his poor ignorant prisoner exceedingly, who, when he saw me, cried out: "Alas! sir, are you also in the power of these cruel men?"

To which I replied, "I feel it an honor to be esteemed worthy of suffering in such a cause."

Hearing that no more prisoners were likely to be brought in, we were ordered to proceed on our way. I had gained some favor with the Archers who had me in charge, by giving them money, and I was thus able to persuade them to indulge my companion, by lengthening his rope sufficiently for him to walk abreast with my horse. They also showed me personal consideration, for, as we were approaching the capital, they told me that they had received positive orders to tie my legs together under the horse, but that they would dispense with it, if I would let my cloak drop low enough to conceal my feet entirely.

We entered the town of Saintes at five o'clock in the afternoon of a day, near the end of April, 1684. "We drew around us a crowd composed of two very different classes; the one clapped their hands, jumped for joy, and cried out in loud