The survivors, however, fought with desperation, giving back, foot by foot; and as the alarm flew abroad and the city rose, every moment brought the defenders a reinforcement--some father just roused from sleep, armed with the chance weapon that came to hand, or some youth panting for his first fight.

The assailants, therefore, found themselves stayed; slowly they were driven back into the narrow gullet of the Tertasse.

Even there they were put to it to hold their ground against an ever-increasing swarm of citizens, whom despair and the knowledge that they were fighting on their hearths, for their wives, and for their children, brought up in renewed strength.
In the Tertasse, however, where it was not possible to outflank them, and no dark side-alley, vomiting now and again a desperate man, gave one to death, a score could hold out against a hundred.

Here then, with the gateway at their backs--whence three or four could fire over their heads--the Savoyards stood stubbornly at bay, awaiting the reinforcements which they were sure would come from the Porte Neuve.
They were picked troops not easily discouraged; and they had no fear that aught serious had happened.

But they asked impatiently why D'Albigny with the main body did not come; why Brunaulieu with the Monnaye in his hands did not see that the time was opportune.