“To hoodwink us, you mean,—why, such a treaty is a positive crime!”
They all hung their heads, looking angry and shamefaced as well as frightened, and Denis Saulsoy said quickly, timidly, that it was not safe always to speak out what one thought. Gangnot was a man of few words, but he gave the anvil another blow, and said, “Colas is right!”
“What are you afraid of, Denis?” said I. “You are among friends,—do you think that walls have ears? Here, Gangnot, go and stand in front of the door with that hammer of yours, and knock the head off the first man that tries to enter; he may have ears to listen with, but I bet that he won’t have a tongue to wag, after Gangnot has had a good lick at him! Now is the time to decide; speak up, if you are true men, for when we leave here it will be to act, not to talk.”
This brought them all to their feet in a perfect uproar; they broke out in a storm of rage against Racquin, calling him a rascal, and Judas, and swearing that he had sold us outright and all that we possessed; but since he had the police behind him, they were afraid to move or offer any resistance.
“Where is he to be found?” said I.
They told me, at the Town Hall, where he stayed night and day, guarded by a troop of ragamuffins, who were more like jailers than defenders.
“He is a prisoner then, in a word,” cried I. “Gangnot, open that door! We will go at once and set him free;—who is with me? It is too late to hang back now!”
“Breugnon,” said Saulsoy, scratching his head, “I do not mind a few hard knocks, but it is a different matter to go against a man who represents the law; if you resist the law, you are taking a heavy——”
“Res-pon-si-bil-i-ty!” said I. “Well, why not? My shoulders are broad enough to bear it, so none of the rest of you need worry. When I see a scoundrel I kill him first, and find out afterwards if he is Pope or Procurator. When order has turned to chaos, it is time to take the law into our own hands.”
This ended the discussion, and we all filed out with Gangnot at our head, his hammer in his huge four-fingered hand, (he had crushed one of them on the anvil). He looked like a walking tower, tall and strong, his face blackened by smoke, and one eye squinting horribly, but we all crowded in behind his broad back, and each man ran to his house to get his weapons. I should not like to swear that they all came back armed; perhaps some of the poor fellows could not find their axes or their arquebuses, for when we assembled in the market-place, our ranks were rather thin, if the truth were told; but those who did come were true as steel; men you could put your trust in.