[Massacres Of The South (1551-1815) I by Alexandre Dumas Pere]@TWC D-Link bookMassacres Of The South (1551-1815) I CHAPTER V 39/50
A single pile of wood had been prepared for Catinat and Ravanel, who were to be burnt together; they were in one cart, and Villas and Jonquet, for whom two wheels had been prepared, were in the other. The first operation was to bind Catinat and Ravanel back to back to the same stake, care being taken to place Catinat with his face to windward, so that his agony might last longer, and then the pile was lit under Ravanel. As had been foreseen, this precaution gave great pleasure to those people who took delight in witnessing executions.
The wind being rather high, blew the flames away from Catinat, so that at first the fire burnt his legs only--a circumstance which, the author of the History of the Camisards tells us, aroused Catinat's impatience.
Ravanel, however, bore everything to the end with the greatest heroism, only pausing in his singing to address words of encouragement to his companion in suffering, whom he could not see, but whose groans and curses he could hear; he would then return to his psalms, which he continued to sing until his voice was stifled in the flames.
Just as he expired, Jonquet was removed from the wheel, and carried, his broken limbs dangling, to the burning pile, on which he was thrown.
From the midst of the flames his voice was heard saying, "Courage, Catinat; we shall soon meet in heaven." A few moments later, the stake, being burnt through at the base, broke, and Catinat falling into the flames, was quickly suffocated.
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