“It is of rich simplicity. The ordinary guard at executions consists of twelve archers.”
“There will be a hundred to-morrow.”
“I reckon so. I even say more—there will be two hundred.”
“Then your hundred and twenty men will not be enough.”
“Pardon me. In every crowd composed of a hundred thousand spectators, there are ten thousand bandits or cut-purses—only they dare not take the initiative.”
“Well?”
“There will then be, to-morrow, on the Place de Greve, which I choose as my battle-field, ten thousand auxiliaries to my hundred and twenty men. The attack commenced by the latter, the others will finish it.”
“That all appears feasible. But what will be done with regard to the prisoners upon the Place de Greve?”
“This: they must be thrust into some house—that will make a siege necessary to get them out again. And stop! here is another idea, more sublime still: certain houses have two issues—one upon the Place, and the other into the Rue de la Mortellerie, or la Vennerie, or la Texeranderie. The prisoners entering by one door will go out at another.”
“Yes, but fix upon something positive.”