"My order says that I am to remain here," answered the man to whom the president addressed himself.
"My order says the same," exclaimed the second brother.
"Mine is the same," said the third.
"Come hither and listen to me, brethren," commanded the president. "What is the motto of our league?"
"'Liberty or death!'" exclaimed the three men, simultaneously. "Our fortunes, our lives, our blood, for Germany! If need be, death for the attainment of liberty, whether it be on the field of battle, in a dungeon, or on the scaffold!"
"Or on the scaffold!" echoed the president. "Do you remember, brethren, that, when we met for the first time, I told you Germany might stand in need of a Mutius Scaevola, and require him to assassinate Porsenna? Do you remember that we all swore, if the day should come to imitate that ancient patriot?"
"We do."
"That day has come," said the president, solemnly. "Germany requires a Mutius Scaevola, to kill Porsenna, and, if he should miss him, to suffer as stoically as the Roman youth. Enough German blood has been shed. Thousands of our brethren would still have to die, if we meet the tyrant in open combat. We must do this, if we cannot get rid of him in any other way. But before resorting to it, before permitting Germany to be again devastated by revolution and war, we will try another way, the course pursued by the Roman. When the tyrant is dead, Germany will be free and happy, and the exultation of his countrymen will console the conscience of him whom the world will call an assassin."
"That is true," said the three conspirators.
"Yes," responded the president. "There are four of us here. Two shall avenge Germany. It is necessary that two should undertake the task, for if one should be unsuccessful, the other may not."