How was that? Was it because the sight of the army of Berne in line of battle intimidated him? Was it because the gentlemen of Vaud and Gex, upon whom he had counted, remembering the valor of the Swiss at Gingins, had no desire to risk the chance of receiving a second lesson, and kept away? Was it because the reinforcements expected from Savoy had not arrived? Or was it because bad news reached him from Chambery, informing him that the duke could think of nothing but the defence of his hereditary states against the king of France? All these reasons had something to do with the trouble of the former castellan of Musso; but the last was the strongest. What a vexation for Medici! He had vaunted that he would put an end to the interminable existence of Geneva; and at the first rencounter he has to retreat. He had reckoned on the pleasure of destroying _a nest of heretics_, and he cannot prevent Nägueli's saving it. At this critical moment, one of the most daring captains of the age seemed to become one of the most cowardly. There are people who, audacious in prosperity, lose their heads when the chances are against them. The flotilla in which the commander of the troops of Savoy had traversed the lake lay at anchor a little distance from Morges, on the side of Lausanne. Medici deserted the field of battle without striking a blow, and embarked a portion of his troops while the remainder stopped in Morges, a fortified city. Nägueli, seeing that the enemy was retiring, pushed the advanced guard of the Swiss down to the shore. The Italian captain, desiring at least to burn a few cartridges, discharged the guns of his fleet at the Bernese, who returned the fire; but it was not difficult for the latter to get out of reach of the cannonade. During this petty engagement, the Spaniards and Italians, who to the number of about seven hundred had taken shelter in Morges, furious at seeing the triumph of the protestants so near at hand, behaved in that city, which belonged to the duke, as if they had been in a hostile town. They rushed into the castle, broke open private houses, and even pillaged the churches, everywhere committing the cruellest outrages;[712] after which they opened the gate on the Rolle side, and most of them ran away. Some escaped on horseback, 'and the rest, says Froment, 'got off fighting with a two-legged sword.'[713] Medici sent two or three boats to Morges to bring off those who had not decamped, and then sailed away to Savoy. One might almost say that an invincible angel of the Almighty, as in the days of Judah, had put the enemies of the Word of God to flight.[714] [Sidenote: THE POWER OF MORAL FORCE.]