“I have had enough of this siege,” rejoined Pescara, “and shall return at once to Italy, which is stripped of soldiers, and threatened by the King of France.”
“If you withdraw now, my lord, it will be in express defiance of my commands,” said Bourbon. “You will answer to the Emperor for your conduct.”
“His Imperial Majesty knows me too well to suppose that I would turn back from danger,” replied Pescara. “But I will not attempt impossibilities. I am not alone in my opinion. Put the question to the other generals. How say you, messeigneurs?” he added to them. “Ought the assault to be made?”
“We are all against it,” said Del Vasto, speaking for the others, who bowed assent.
“You are all in league to thwart me,” cried Bourbon, furiously. “But I will put you to shame. I will show you that the assault can be made successfully. Go, my lord, if you will,” he added to Pescara. “Your soldiers will follow me.”
“Your highness is mistaken,” returned the other. “They will inarch with me to Italy.”
Suppressing his rage, Bourbon turned to the German generals.
“I shall not, I am sure, lack your aid, messeigneurs,” he said. “You and your brave lanz-knechts will follow me?”
“Your highness must hold us excused,” they replied.
“Where the Marquis of Pescara declines to go, we are not foolhardy enough to venture.”