During this time Claude Savoye and Wildermuth were appealing to the men of good-will at Neuchâtel and in its valleys. In every place Savoye uttered his lament over the poor city of Geneva: 'Help us in God's name,' he said. 'Give aid and succor to your Christian brethren, who hold the same faith and obey the same law as you: and who, because they have the Gospel preached, and defend their liberties and franchises, are beleaguered by the enemies of the faith.' These words were not ineffectual. Many generous minds threw far from them the selfish thoughts that might have restrained them. 'Shall we not be moved with pity towards our brethren in the Lord?' said the men of Neuchâtel to one another. 'Shall not the charity we owe to our neighbor impel us?' One of the most fervent was Jacques Baillod, called also the Banneret, whose family, one of the oldest in the Val de Travers, filled the chief offices of the state. He was, as it would appear, misshapen in body, short,[629] and a little hunch-backed, not very unlike Æsop (said some); but he was a skilful and valiant captain. Many men from the Val de Travers and other places listened to his appeal. Even at Neuchâtel, an ex-councillor was distinguished by his zeal; this was André, surnamed Mazellier, or 'the butcher,'[630] one of those firm characters who, when they have put their hands to the plow, never look back. 'In a short time,' says a contemporary chronicler, 'a thousand picked men, fine men-of-war, faithful and of stout heart—if there are any such in all Switzerland—were assembled, and ready to march at once to the succor of Geneva at their own expense.'[631] According to others, only eight or nine hundred men took up arms. [Sidenote: OPPOSITION OF DE PRANGINS.]