CHAPTER XXVII
GABRIEL AT WORK
"Who dares thus to interrupt me?" demanded Gaspard de Coligny, with a gathering frown.
"I!" said a man, attired in the costume of a peasant of the suburbs of St. Quentin, making his way forward through the crowd.
"A peasant!" exclaimed the admiral.
"No, not a peasant," rejoined the stranger, "but Vicomte d'Exmès, captain of the king's Guards, who comes in his Majesty's name."
"In the king's name!" exclaimed the throng of astonished citizens.
"In the king's name," repeated Gabriel; "and you see that he has not abandoned his noble people of St. Quentin; on the contrary, he is still anxious about them. I came in, disguised as a peasant, three hours since; and during these three hours I have examined the walls and listened to your deliberations. But let me say that what I have heard hardly agrees with what I saw. Whence this discouragement, suitable for none but women, which seems to have stricken with panic the stoutest hearts? How comes it that you thus suddenly lose all hope, and leave yourselves a prey to imaginary fears? What! have you sunk so low that you can only rebel against the will of Monsieur l'Amiral, or bend your necks to the yoke in resignation? Show your face, by the living God, not to your leaders, but to the enemy; and if you cannot overcome them, at least let your defeat be more glorious than a triumph. I come from the ramparts; and I tell you that you can hold them two weeks yet, and the king only asks you to keep the enemy at bay one week to insure the salvation of France. To all that you have listened to in this hall I will make answer in two words, and will point out to you a remedy for your ills and a ray of hope to calm your fears."
The officers and notables crowded around Gabriel, already under the magic spell of his powerful and sympathetic will.
"Hear him! hear him!" they cried.
It was amid a breathless stillness that Gabriel continued,—
"In the first place, Monsieur Engineer Lauxford, what did you say,—that four weak spots in the fortifications were like open gates for the enemy to come in? Well, let us see. The Faubourg d'Isle side is in the greatest danger; the Spaniards are masters of the abbey, and from that point they are keeping up such a well-directed fire that our workmen don't dare to show themselves. Allow me, Monsieur Lauxford, to point out to you a very simple and very excellent way to protect them, which I saw put in practice by the besieged at Civitella this very year. It consists simply in screening our workmen from the Spanish batteries by placing old flatboats across the boulevard, piled upon one another, and filled with bags of earth. The cannon-balls waste their force in the soft soil; and behind that shelter our workmen will be as safe as if they were out of range of the cannon. At the hamlet of Remicourt, the enemy, under cover of a mantlet, are calmly undermining the wall, you say? I have with my own eyes verified the fact. But that is the place, Monsieur Engineer, where we must locate a countermine, and not at the Porte St. Jean, where the great tower makes your countermine not only useless but dangerous. So remove your sappers and miners from the western to the southern side, Monsieur Lauxford, and you will find great advantage in so doing. But the Porte St. Jean, you will ask, and the Boulevard St. Martin, are they to be left undefended? Fifty men at the first, and fifty at the second point will be enough; so Monsieur de Rambouillet himself has told us. But," he added, "these hundred men are not forthcoming. Very well! I will furnish them."
A murmur of glad surprise was heard all over the room.
"Yes," resumed Gabriel, in a steadier tone, as he saw that their hearts were somewhat encouraged by his words, "I left Baron de Vaulpergues with his company of three hundred lancers three leagues from here. We understand each other. I agreed to come here, risking all the perils of passing through the enemy's camp, in order to satisfy myself as to the most favorable points for him to make his way into the town with his men. I am here, as you see; and my plans are made. I shall now return to Vaulpergues. We shall divide his company into three. I shall take command in person of one of these detachments; and at nightfall, there being no moon, we propose to march from three different directions, each toward a postern designated beforehand. Surely we shall be very unfortunate if only one of our three detachments eludes the enemy, when their attention is called off by the other two. In any event, there will surely be one; and a hundred determined men will be thrown into the town, where, fortunately, there is no lack of provisions. These hundred men will be posted, as I said, at the Porte St. Jean and the Boulevard St. Michel; and now tell me, Monsieur Lauxford and Monsieur de Rambouillet,—tell me, I beg, what spot in the walls will then offer an easy entrance to the enemy."
With universal acclamation the assembly received these stirring words, which so powerfully awakened new hope in their despondent hearts.
"Oh," cried Jean Peuquoy, "now we can fight, and we can conquer."
"Fight, yes; but as for victory, I dare not hope it," rejoined Gabriel, with an air of authority. "I have no desire to make matters appear better than they really are, but only that they should not be made to appear worse. I wished to prove to every one of you, and first of all, to you, Master Jean Peuquoy, who have given utterance to such noble but gloomy words,—I wished to prove to you, in the first place, that the king does not abandon you, and in the second place, that your fall might be glorious, but obstinate resistance must be of the greatest service. You said a moment since, 'Let us offer ourselves as a sacrifice;' and now you say, 'Let us fight.' It is a great step forward. Yes, it is possible, nay, it may be probable that the sixty thousand men who are now besieging your frail ramparts will end by carrying them. But in the first place, do not imagine that the noble struggle you will have maintained will expose you to cruel reprisals. Philibert Emmanuel is a brave soldier, who loves and honors bravery in others, and will never punish you for your valor. And last of all, think that if you can hold out ten or twelve days more, you will perhaps have lost your town, but you will surely have saved your country. A sublime and noble end! Towns, like men, have their patents of nobility; and the mighty deeds that they accomplish are their titles and their ancestors. Your little children, men of St. Quentin, will some day be proud of their fathers. Your walls may be destroyed; but who can ever destroy the glorious memory of this siege? Courage, then, heroic sentinels of a kingdom! Save the king, and save your country. But a moment ago, with heads bowed down, you seemed to have resolved to die, the willing victims of stern necessity. Lift up your heads! If you perish, let it be as willing heroes, and your memory shall never perish! Thus you can heartily join me in the cry: 'Vive la France!' and 'Vive St. Quentin!'"
"Vive la France! Vive St. Quentin! Vive le roi!" burst enthusiastically from a hundred throats.
"And now," said Gabriel, "to the ramparts and to work! and encourage by your example your fellow-citizens, who await you. To-morrow a hundred pairs of arms more, I swear, shall be here to aid you in your work of salvation and of glory."
"To the ramparts!" cried the throng.
And out they rushed, carried away with joy and hope and pride, and inspiring with their words and their enthusiasm those who had not heard the words of the unhoped-for liberator, who had been sent by God and the king to the disheartened town.
Gaspard de Coligny, the worthy and high-minded commander, had listened to Gabriel in silence born of wonder and admiration. When the whole assemblage had dispersed with triumphant shouts, he left the seat he had occupied, went up to the young man, and pressed his hand with an air of amazement.
"Thanks, Monsieur," said he; "you have saved St. Quentin and myself from disgrace, and it may be France and the king from destruction."
"Alas! I have done nothing as yet, Monsieur l'Amiral," said Gabriel. "I must now go back to Vaulpergues; and God alone can enable me to go out as I came in, and to introduce the hundred men I have promised into the town. It is God and not I to whom thanks must be rendered, ten days from now.”