Here, too, they were joined by the corps detached to the Vivarrais. They had to make their painful way over rugged crests and along horrible precipices, “the image of a world falling into ruin and perishing of old age.”[445] Nothing grows on the stony flanks of these exhausted craters but chestnut-trees, whose coarse fruit was not then ripe.[446] In the higher passes the snow lay deep, as it frequently does far into summer, and horse and rider often missed the way and were seen no more. Few towns or even villages are to be found even now in these wild districts, and the peasantry fare hard upon the scanty supply of their flocks of sheep and goats. From gloomy gorges, many of which are aptly named _Enfer_ or _Diable_, where black precipitous rocks almost exclude the day, and through which dash impetuous torrents, often dry in summer, and in winter impassable--from these gorges the army suddenly emerged into a smiling valley, now the scene of a most thriving industry! As soon as Coligny had recovered his strength, the army was once more put in motion, and in June reached Arnay-le-Duc in Burgundy, after a march of nearly 1200 miles. Here Marshal Cossé attempted to stop him with an army of 12,000 foot and 4000 horse with artillery, while the Huguenot force barely exceeded 6000 men, mostly cavalry and no guns, so great had been the losses since they left Poitou the previous autumn. The battle began on the edge of a little brook which the Catholics attempted to cross; but all their attacks, whether in front or in flank, were unsuccessful. Throughout that long summer day (27th June, 1570), Cossé tried again and again, but every movement was met promptly and resisted vigorously. At length night came--a welcome relief to the petty band of Huguenots, whose losses, though numerically small, were greater than Coligny could afford. The next day the two armies remained face to face, the marshal being evidently afraid of so desperate an enemy. “Here,” says Prince Henry, “was my first exploit in arms,[447] the question being whether I should fight or retire. My nearest place of retreat was forty miles distant, and, if I halted, I must certainly lie at the mercy of the country people. By fighting, I ran the risk of being taken or slain, for I had no cannon, and the king’s forces had, and a gentleman was killed not ten paces distant from me by a cannon shot. But commending the success of the day to God, it pleased him to make it favorable and happy.”[448] Coligny warmly complimented the young prince on his courage, and gave him some advice which he did not forget in after years: “Do not ask how many have fallen? They are Frenchmen, and I hope that ere long you and I will have to shed no more French blood in our own defense.... If I have taught you by my firmness to triumph over the cruelest obstacles, you have still to learn a more valuable lesson from me--to avoid civil war at any price.”