The first Sunday after their return was passed at the village of Prali. Of all their sanctuaries, the church of Prali alone remained standing; of the others only the ruins were to be seen. They resolved to commence this day their ancient and scriptural worship. Purging the church of its Popish ornaments, one half of the little army, laying down their arms at the door, entered the edifice, while the other half stood without, the church being too small to contain them all. Henri Arnaud, the soldier-pastor, mounting a table which was placed in the porch, preached to them. They began their worship by chanting the 74th Psalm--“O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? Why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?” &c. The preacher then took as his text the 129th Psalm--“Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say.” The wonderful history of his people behind him, so to speak, and the reconquest of their land before him, must have called up the glorious achievements of their fathers, provoking the generous emulation of their sons. The worship was closed by these 700 warriors chanting in magnificent chorus the psalm from which their leader had preached. To many it seemed significant that here the returned exiles should spend their first Sunday, and resume their sanctuary services. They remembered how this same village of Prali had been the scene of a horrible outrage at the time of their exodus. The Pastor of Prali, M. Leidet, a singularly pious man, had been discovered by the soldiers as he was praying under a rock, and being dragged forth, he was first tortured and mutilated, and then hanged; his last words being, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” It was surely appropriate, after the silence of three years and a half, during which the rage of the persecutor had forbidden the preaching of the glorious Gospel, that its re-opening should take place in the pulpit of the martyr Leidet. CHAPTER XVII. FINAL RE-ESTABLISHMENT IN THE VALLEYS. Cross the Col Julien--Seize Bobbio--Oath of Sibaud--March to Villaro--Guerilla War--Retreat to La Balsiglia--Its Strength--Beauty and Grandeur of San Martino--Encampment on the Balsiglia--Surrounded--Repulse of the Enemy--Depart for the Winter--Return of French and Piedmontese Army in Spring--The Balsiglia Stormed--Enemy Driven Back--Final Assault with Cannon--Wonderful Deliverance of the Vaudois--Overtures of Peace.