Page:The Rebellion in the Cevennes (Volume 1).djvu/249

Rh swords, sicles, hatchets, and cudgels we will fall upon them, nay without weapons, with these hands, with these teeth we will tear them to pieces! Life and pleasure now consist only in death and destruction; if they only feel how we hate and abhor them, if but one and then another, and a third be made to acknowledge to us, struggling in agonising death, and with closing eyes, that this happens to them for their evil doings." All the men pressed forward brandishing their weapons and gnashing their teeth. A smothered cry of rage suddenly burst from every lip. "Controul yourselves my friends," said Roland, "As well as you can; you, Bertrand, with your horrifying account have filled my soul with sorrow, for your woe concerns us altogether and your loss admits of no restitution. Repose and refresh yourselves here with all that I can offer you; then follow my counsel, and let the old men, women, and children return peaceably, for here there is neither shelter nor help for them. God