It appears that Valençay, believing that there was no possibility of his being attacked in broad daylight, had not only neglected to entrench himself, but had even allowed his men to pile arms and scatter about the ridge; and, to crown all, had permitted a trumpeter from the town, who had been sent to demand the bodies of the dead, to approach without taking the precaution to order his eyes to be bandaged. On his return to Montpellier, this man duly reported what he had seen to his officers; and the garrison, sallying out in considerable force, fell upon the astonished Valençay and utterly routed him. Springing on a horse, Bassompierre galloped off to the quarters of the Swiss Guards, who were the troops nearest the ridge of Saint-Denis, called them to arms and led them against the enemy. Meantime, the Duc de Montmorency, the young Duc de Fronsac and other nobles and gentlemen, who happened to be in attendance on the King, who had just finished dinner, had mounted the first horses they could find, and, with more valour than discretion, thrown themselves into the _mêlée_, in a vain endeavour to rally the fugitives. Montmorency’s life was saved by d’Argencourt, the lieutenant-governor of Montpellier, who fortunately recognised him, and he escaped with a couple of not very serious wounds; but his companions perished almost to a man, amongst them being Fronsac, whom Bassompierre describes as “a young prince of great promise, who, in his opinion, would have been one day a great captain,” the Marquis de Beuvron, d’Auctot, who commanded Condé’s company of light horse and was a great favourite of the prince, and Luynes’s nephew Combalet, brother of the young lady whom Bassompierre would in all probability have married, had the late Constable lived a few months longer.[9] However, Bassompierre had now brought up the Swiss, and before the advance of these veterans, the enemy, who had pursued the routed troops almost to the confines of the Royal camp, fell back into the town, and the ridge of Saint-Denis was recovered. But it had been a most disastrous day for the besiegers, for Valençay’s force had been terribly cut up and his best officers killed. Next day, the defenders of Montpellier, encouraged by this success, made a determined attack on Montmorency’s troops, encamped to the west of the town, who gave way before them. Zamet,[10] who had taken over the command from the wounded duke, succeeded in rallying them and driving the enemy back. But almost immediately afterwards he was mortally wounded by a cannon-shot from the town, and died a few days later.