Waldenses
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mountain brook, sometimes crossing a little patch of grain which was
supported by a great stone wall and thus kept from being washed down
the mountain side, sometimes following along the very edge of these
great walls which hold in place the mountain terraces, on which are
small vineyards, pasture lands, and grain fields; then it would turn
suddenly and ascend by rocky steps to the heights above. Now and
then we would stop to rest, or to allow to pass us a solemn-looking
flock of sheep and goats which some little girl or boy was driving to
the small patches of pasture land above.
A climb of three-quarters of an hour brought us to a large open
plat of ground. Here we halted, and under the friendly shade of a
huge chestnut-tree spread our lunch. A few rods from us was a large
house, built of stone, and plastered on the outside. Although about
eight hundred years old, it was still occupied. Here it was that many
of the Waldenses found shelter when driven by their persecutors from
the valley below; but spies soon found them here, and soldiers were
sent to exterminate them. The battle was fought on the very spot
where we were seated. Although the Waldenses were few in number,
they held their ground for some time, and then, attempting to escape,
most of them were brutally massacred. Two who were wounded fled
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to the rocks a few rods above us, where they dragged their wounded
bodies through a narrow passage into a cave which extended thirty feet
underground.
But a Satanic spirit drove humanity from the hearts of their pur-
suers, and led them to devise a means of killing these wounded men
whom they could not capture. Wood and leaves were piled at the
various crevices of the rock, and set on fire, and the prisoners soon
perished from suffocation. After partaking of our simple lunch, we
climbed up to this cave, and explored it as far as we could. Then one of
our number crawled, feet first, between the rocks, and dropped himself
into the inner cave where the poor martyrs miserably perished.
History tells us of several occasions when the same means of
extermination was resorted to and that, too, on a much larger scale.
The valley of Loyse was the scene of one of the most horrible of these
tragedies. The inhabitants were quietly pursuing their vocations, when
they were surprised by seeing an armed force twenty times their own
number enter their valley. “Despairing of being able to resist them,
they at once prepared for flight. Placing their old people and children