The  enemy  outside  were  angered  by  the  bravery
of  the  defenders.  A  rain  of  fire  seemed  to  descend
on  the  town  at  night.  The  houses  afforded  no  safety
for  the  inmates.  They  were  compelled  to  seek  re-
fuge in  the  bowels  of  the  earth.  Olympia,  with  her
husband  and  brother,  spent  several  weeks  in  the
depth  of  an  obscure  cave,  afraid  to  go  out.  Finally
the  Margrave,  seeing  defeat  before  him,  suddenly
evacuated  the  town  in  the  middle  of  the  night.  The
enemy  came  in,  but  the  citizens  found  that  they
brought  no  relief,  only  worse  oppressions.  For  they
pillaged  the  town  and  set  it  on  fire.  Fearful  were
the  scenes  in  the  town.  The  people  pressed  to  the
gates  to  escape,  only  to  be  driven  back  and  con-
demned to  perish.  Some  made  their  own  funeral
preparations  in  their  homes.  Some  fell  on  their
knees,  trying  to  soften  the  hard,  cruel  hearts  of  the
enemy,  but  in  vain.  Others  ran  toward  the  church
as  the  asylum  of  safety,  only  to  perish  in  the  build-
ing, as  it  fell  in  the  conflagration.    Olympia  and  her


142  Women  of  the  Reformed  Church.
