Three of the best citizens of Geneva, Jean d’Arlod, auditor, the zealous Étienne d’Adda, and Pontet, happening to be at La Roche, three or four leagues from Geneva, in the evening, had heard the enterprise talked of, and had immediately mounted their horses in order to reach the gates before the enemy.[606] Pushing rapidly along the by-roads, they stopped at a farm-house a short distance from the city, where they learnt that the Savoyard troops were already under the walls. D’Arlod directed one of the farm-servants to go and see if they could enter. M. de Simon and Mauloz the castellan, impatient to know the cause of the delay, determined to make use of this poor boy, of whose innocence they felt no doubts. ‘Hark ye!’ they said to him; ‘go and see whether the Rive and St. Antoine gates are open.’ The lad, who was very unwilling to serve as a scout to the Savoyards, replied: ‘Oh! I should be afraid they would kill me.’ At that instant Mauloz, whose attention was divided between the youth and the houses on which the torches were to be displayed, exclaimed, ‘There is one!’ A brilliant light appeared over the city: the whole force hailed it with joy, and the two captains could not turn away their eyes. The light appeared and disappeared, returned, and was again eclipsed, and every time it came in sight, strange to say, it looked more elevated. Higher and higher it rose; already it overtopped the tallest chimneys. There was something extraordinary about it, and the Savoyards began to grow uneasy. ‘Why, can it be so?’ said those who knew Geneva; ‘the light is ascending the spire of St. Pierre!... Yes, it is so ... that is where the main watch of the city is stationed in time of danger.’ At last the light ceased to move; it halted at the top of the spire, which was built on the crest of the hill. It thus brooded over the city, and seemed turned upon the Savoyard army, like the glaring eye of the lion shining through the midnight darkness of the desert. Then a panic terror seized the soldiers of Charles III.; their features were disturbed, their hearts quaked. Mauloz, who had kept his eyes fixed on the threatening apparition, turned in despair towards M. de Simon, who was already moving off, and exclaimed: ‘We are discovered: we are betrayed! We shall not enter Geneva to-night.’ The young messenger, finding that nobody took heed of him, ran off to the farm to tell D’Arlod and his friends what had taken place.[607] [Sidenote: Retreat Of The Savoyards.] Yet the lion’s eye still glared above the city. ‘The sugar-plums are all ready for our supper,’ said the men-at-arms.[608] Every one thought of retiring: Mauloz and Simon gave orders for the retreat. As day was beginning to break, the Genevese look-outs stationed on the tower saw the Savoyards filing off in the direction of Castle Gaillard, with drums beating and colors flying.