“Because there will be no talk of negotiations after that; for the garrison of the fortress will be flaming with vengeance, and those men will rather fall one upon the other than surrender.”
“Wittemberg will send me heavy guns.”
“Your worthiness, do not do this deed,” continued Sadovski, with force; “they are envoys who have come here with confidence.”
“I shall not have them hanged on confidence, but on gibbets.”
“The echo of this deed will spread through the whole country, will enrage all hearts, and turn them away from us.”
“Give me peace with your echoes; I have heard of them already a hundred times.”
“Your worthiness will not do this without the knowledge of his Royal Grace?”
“You have no right to remind me of my duties to the king.”
“But I have the right to ask for permission to resign from service, and to present my reasons to his Royal Grace. I wish to be a soldier, not an executioner.”
The Prince of Hesse issued from the circle in the middle of the room, and said ostentatiously,—