A Gentleman from Gascony: A Romance of the Huguenots — page 96: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

92 A GENTLEMAN FROM GASCONY. mass, From the neighboring houses, the savage sol- diers of the Italian and Swiss guards, who had been well primed with strong drink, leaped forth, and in a moment the air rang with the clank of arms and the cry: ‘ Kill! Kill! Death to the Huguenots!” Every man was armed, some with drawn swords, others with arquebuses, and some in the left hand held torches which threw a fitful glare over the scene. Hemmed in as he was on all sides, Raoul determined to sell his life dearly. At the first sound of the bell, he had drawn his sword, but there seemed to be no opportunity to use it. No one seemed disposed te molest him, although more than one scrutinized him closely, but a glance at the double cross in his hat ap- parently banished all suspicion. “Kill! Kill! Death to the Huguenots! The king has signed the warrant of their doom!” rang out from hundreds of throats, parched with the thirst of blood. “Vive la Messe! Vive le Duc de Guise! Mort aux Huguenots!” And now ensued a horrible scene. The houses of the Huguenots, previously marked with a white cross, were. broken open, and the inmates dragged out to be butch- ered in cold blood. Amid the din of yelling soldiers, the groans of the dying, the shrieks of despairing women and the affrighted screams of children, rose the sound of bells from almost every belfry in Paris. Stunned, horrified, Raoul was borne along by the yelling masses, realizing his powerlessness, but deter- mined to snatch at any chance that might enable him to reach the admiral first, warn him, and aid him to escape, Gomicbooks ((@)