The huguenots whom he had attacked did not remain idle, but parried the priest's blows with their naked swords. At last one of them, whom the long and pointed blade provoked, sprang forward, caught hold of the halberd, broke it in two and flung the pieces away. The hero of the clergy, finding himself deprived of his favourite weapon, lost not a moment; he drew his two-handed sword and rushed upon his adversaries, cutting and thrusting like a Switzer of Grandson. The huguenots, finding themselves so vigorously attacked, no longer stood upon the defensive; they fell upon the champion of the papacy. 'They charged him,' says Sister Jeanne, who adds, 'but he defended himself valiantly.' His breastplate protected his body from the neck to the waist, so that all the blows aimed at him glanced off, 'so completely and cunningly was he armed.'[723] At last a man named Pierre l'Hoste, as is believed, a poor carman, impatient at the long struggle, looking upon Wernli as a soldier and not a priest, approached him, and, moving round him in search of the weak point in his armour, plunged his sword into his body. The canon staggered and fell. 'Thus was the blasphemer killed, and he lay in the square without moving hand or foot.'[724] The struggle occurred in front of the house of Councillor Chautemps, one of the most zealous of the evangelicals. Wernli fell on the steps. _They that take the sword shall perish with the sword._[725] Some priests who were near, seeing their captain fall, fled each to his convent or to the cloister of St. Pierre.[726] [Sidenote: DEATH OF THE CANON.] The death of the general did not, however, put an end to the fight. Priests with their partisans, and huguenots, were still exchanging blows when the syndic of the guard, the head of the military department, arrived. He raised his official bâton and ordered the citizens to return to their houses. De Chapeaurouge, commander of the cavalry, zealously assisted him. 'Stop!' they both exclaimed. All their calling was useless, so great was the popular emotion, and so inflamed was their courage, says the chronicle. The syndic, advancing into the midst of the combatants, conjured them to separate; but he received a blow on the head from the hands of a priest.[727] What the canon's death had not been able to do, the magistrate's wound accomplished. This incident put an end to the contest. The reformed, full of respect for the syndic, sheathed their swords and withdrew to their homes.