This effusion of blood, far from calming men's minds, served but to inflame them. 'All good christians were more excited than before,' says Sister Jeanne. The skirmish in which, being seven hundred against two, they had gained the advantage, was an omen of victory! They looked at each other and counted their numbers. 'We are the majority and well armed,' they said; 'we must sally out boldly and fight these rascals.' The principal leaders, lay and ecclesiastic, withdrawing into a private part of the cathedral, held a final council. The most influential represented that the huguenots had celebrated the sacrament, that they persevered in holding their meetings 'here and there,' that the sacerdotal authority was decreasing and the number of heretics increasing, and that there was only one means left of saving the Romish faith—putting every heretic to death.[656] The syndics stretched out their wands in vain, and ordered them to keep the peace. All was useless. 'Now is the time,' cried the priests; 'let us run to the great bell and give the signal.' At the word many hastened to the tower of the church and began to ring the tocsin. At the same time those who were in the church prepared to march. [Sidenote: CATHOLICS PREPARE TO FIGHT.] Three of the syndics were devoted to the catholic party: Nicholas du Crest, Pierre de Malbuisson, and Claude Baud. Finding that they could not stop the riot, they determined if possible to direct it. Claude Baud, lord of Troches, in whose castle many a plot had been concocted against the independence of Geneva, would have desired to make an end of the Reform, but not by violent means. Seeing, however, that it was impossible to check the torrent, he put himself at the head of the _émeute_, but with the hope of restraining it, and afterwards of repressing the Reform by legal means. 'Shut the doors of the church,' said Baud. This had a surprising effect: the catholics on a sudden grew calmer. The syndic feared that if they came to blows, the two parties might become confused in the battle, and that friends would strike friends without recognising each other. He ordered a great bundle of laurel boughs to be brought in, and addressing the crowd around him, said: 'Formerly, citizens, they used to give garlands to the conquerors; I give you these laurels before the victory: they will distinguish you from the wicked.' The combatants each took a sprig and fastened it to their caps; and then the pious catholics who were in the crowd, wishing to give a religious character to the _émeute_, proposed that they should implore the blessing of heaven before they started. The ecclesiastics were silent immediately, and turning to the choir, prostrated themselves in fervent devotion before the high altar. All present knelt down 'with great abundance of tears,' and sang the famous hymn of the Roman breviary: Vexilla regis prodeunt.[657]