CHAPTER IX.
WAR AND THE BATTLE OF GINGINS.
(11th and 12th October 1535.)
=THE SECRET MARCH.=
What road should this little army take? There seemed to be no other than that through the Pays de Vaud. But that country was occupied by the captains of the duke of Savoy, who separated Wildermuth's band from Geneva, and could easily oppose him with four or five thousand men. Besides, if the Swiss auxiliaries followed that road, they would have to pass near Yverdun and other strong towns capable of stopping them. 'I undertake,' Wildermuth had said, 'to lead my companions secretly and promptly to Geneva.' But how could he lead four to five hundred men secretly? With that intent he had formed a bold strange plan, by means of which he hoped to clear the distance between Neuchâtel and Geneva, without its being known what he was doing, and would present himself to the Genevese in distress, and to the Savoyards, their enemies, at a moment when neither of them expected him. The old captain intended to turn the Jura, and for that purpose to cross the Val de Travers, enter Franche Comté, make for Sainte Claude, and thence, by the pass of the Faucille, he would descend directly upon Geneva.
His troops began their march: they passed through Couvet, Môtiers, and other villages in the valley; but they had hardly crossed the last meadows, when they found the mountainous and steep roads, which separated them from Les Verrières and Pontarlier, entirely closed by the Savoyards.[634] Wildermuth, after taking counsel with the other chiefs, resolved, instead of turning the Jura, to march by the upper valleys. Some objected the season, the precipices, the absence of beaten roads; but the leaders saw no other means of escaping the armed corps which desired to stop them. The troop was so small that, if it fought two or three battles before reaching Geneva, scarcely a handful of men would enter the beleaguered city.
=LABORIOUS MARCH.=
Turning, therefore, to the left, in a southerly direction, and passing the village of Butte, the volunteers painfully climbed the steep path which, winding between Mont Chasseron and the Côte-aux-Fées, leads to Sainte-Croix. They passed through this village, descended towards Vallorbe, and then climbed again into the high valleys of Joux.
These heroic adventurers were two days (Friday and Saturday) on those cold and desert heights. Everything was already covered with snow, which was knee-deep, and forced them to clear the way with unheard-of labor. We must not forget that there were women among them. It was the coldest period of the year, says Froment, the winter being early and severe. Thick flakes of snow fell and covered those brave men with a white mantle, and obliged them to move slowly. But Wildermuth, notwithstanding his age; Baillod, notwithstanding his small stature; and Savoye, notwithstanding his fatigues, were fearless. One of them always marched in front; and when they had to encounter difficult passages, they sprang forward with fiery ardor upon those icy bulwarks, as if mounting to the assault.
At that time there were only twenty families in the valley, and some monks of the order of the Premonstrants, who had been settled in the twelfth century at a place still called the Abbey. At the approach of this unexpected body of 'men in white,' the inhabitants of the heights fled in terror, with such valuables as they could carry; and those noble champions of independence and the Gospel could find nowhere either men or provisions, so that famine 'pressed them sorely.' They went into the poor gardens, but could gather nothing to appease their hunger except 'a few cabbage stalks and some turnips—and very little of these,' adds the chronicler. However, they did not lose courage: they were going to help Geneva, and every step carried them nearer. This idea stimulated them: the drifted snows, which often blocked up the road, were crossed with renewed courage.
On Saturday afternoon these warriors reached the wild lake of Les Rousses, where they turned to the left, to make for the valley of the Leman, marching slowly beneath long ranges of pine-trees. At length the troop, overwhelmed with fatigue, arrived at Saint Cergues, on the heights of the Jura overlooking Nyon, 2,800 feet above the lake. The valiant men conducted by Wildermuth expected to find provisions in this village; but there were no inhabitants, and no victuals. However, as there were houses and beds too, the chiefs determined to pass the night there, and posted sentinels all round.[635]