Page:Memoirs of a Huguenot Family.djvu/76

70. "What are you about?" said they. "Do you set no value upon life? What fury urges you to the gallows? Think for a moment of your wives and children! What will become of them?" They tried every expedient to intimidate them, and swore to them, by all that was sacred, that if once they were taken to prison they would only exchange it for the rack, the gibbet, or, at any rate, the galleys. They adduced numerous instances of such and such persons, who, for similar offences, had been hanged, broken on the wheel. &c., &c. It was all of no use, their words seemed to act like wind upon fire; the more furious and violent were the Archers the more was the zeal of the people kindled.

At length, by a refinement of cruelty, the Provost determined to leave behind those who were most anxious to go, and he selected those to take with him who appeared the least eager. They were bound together two and two, as dogs are coupled for hunting, and tied to the tails of the horses. These poor countrymen betrayed not the least fear, they bade adieu to their wives and children with dry eyes. The wives also did their part to sustain their husbands, and they saw them led away without a murmur; they had put their hands to the plough, and did not look back; they placed full trust in Him, who has promised to be a husband to the widow and a father to the fatherless.

It was known in Saintes, where the Provost and Archers had gone, so the good Protestants were ready to minister to the temporal necessities of the prisoners who might be brought, and it was certainly not more than half an hour after their arrival at the prison, when ten beds with bedding complete were sent to them, and an abundant supper likewise. It deserves to be recorded that, to the honor of the