GABRIEL AT WORK
"Who dares thus to interrupt me?" demanded Gaspard de Coligny, with a
gathering frown.
"I!" said a man, attired in the costume of a peasant of the suburbs of
St. Quentin, making his way forward through the crowd.
"A peasant!" exclaimed the admiral.
"No, not a peasant," rejoined the stranger, "but Vicomte d'Exmès,
captain of the king's Guards, who comes in his Majesty's name."
"In the king's name!" exclaimed the throng of astonished citizens.
"In the king's name," repeated Gabriel; "and you see that he has not
abandoned his noble people of St. Quentin; on the contrary, he is still
anxious about them. I came in, disguised as a peasant, three hours
since; and during these three hours I have examined the walls and
listened to your deliberations. But let me say that what I have heard
hardly agrees with what I saw. Whence this discouragement, suitable for
none but women, which seems to have stricken with panic the stoutest
hearts? How comes it that you thus suddenly lose all hope, and leave
yourselves a prey to imaginary fears? What! have you sunk so low that
you can only rebel against the will of Monsieur l'Amiral, or bend your
necks to the yoke in resignation? Show your face, by the living God, not
to your leaders, but to the enemy; and if you cannot overcome them, at
least let your defeat be more glorious than a triumph. I come from the
ramparts; and I tell you that you can hold them two weeks yet, and the
king only asks you to keep the enemy at bay one week to insure the
salvation of France. To all that you have listened to in this hall I
will make answer in two words, and will point out to you a remedy for
your ills and a ray of hope to calm your fears."
The officers and notables crowded around Gabriel, already under the
magic spell of his powerful and sympathetic will.
"Hear him! hear him!" they cried.
It was amid a breathless stillness that Gabriel continued,--
"In the first place, Monsieur Engineer Lauxford, what did you say,--that
four weak spots in the fortifications were like open gates for the enemy
to come in? Well, let us see. The Faubourg d'Isle side is in the
greatest danger; the Spaniards are masters of the abbey, and from that
point they are keeping up such a well-directed fire that our workmen
don't dare to show themselves. Allow me, Monsieur Lauxford, to point out
to you a very simple and very excellent way to protect them, which I saw
put in practice by the besieged at Civitella this very year. It consists
simply in screening our workmen from the Spanish batteries by placing
old flatboats across the boulevard, piled upon one another, and filled
with bags of earth. The cannon-balls waste their force in the soft soil;
and behind that shelter our workmen will be as safe as if they were out
of range of the cannon. At the hamlet of Remicourt, the enemy, under
cover of a mantlet, are calmly undermining the wall, you say? I have
with my own eyes verified the fact. But that is the place, Monsieur
Engineer, where we must locate a countermine, and not at the Porte St.
Jean, where the great tower makes your countermine not only useless but
dangerous. So remove your sappers and miners from the western to the
southern side, Monsieur Lauxford, and you will find great advantage in
so doing. But the Porte St. Jean, you will ask, and the Boulevard St.
Martin, are they to be left undefended? Fifty men at the first, and
fifty at the second point will be enough; so Monsieur de Rambouillet
himself has told us. But," he added, "these hundred men are not
forthcoming. Very well! I will furnish them."
A murmur of glad surprise was heard all over the room.
"Yes," resumed Gabriel, in a steadier tone, as he saw that their hearts
were somewhat encouraged by his words, "I left Baron de Vaulpergues with
his company of three hundred lancers three leagues from here. We
understand each other. I agreed to come here, risking all the perils of
passing through the enemy's camp, in order to satisfy myself as to the
most favorable points for him to make his way into the town with his
men. I am here, as you see; and my plans are made. I shall now return to
Vaulpergues. We shall divide his company into three. I shall take
command in person of one of these detachments; and at nightfall, there
being no moon, we propose to march from three different directions, each
toward a postern designated beforehand. Surely we shall be very
unfortunate if only one of our three detachments eludes the enemy, when
their attention is called off by the other two. In any event, there will
surely be one; and a hundred determined men will be thrown into the
town, where, fortunately, there is no lack of provisions. These hundred
men will be posted, as I said, at the Porte St. Jean and the Boulevard
St. Michel; and now tell me, Monsieur Lauxford and Monsieur de
Rambouillet,--tell me, I beg, what spot in the walls will then offer an
easy entrance to the enemy."
With universal acclamation the assembly received these stirring words,
which so powerfully awakened new hope in their despondent hearts.
"Oh," cried Jean Peuquoy, "now we can fight, and we can conquer."
"Fight, yes; but as for victory, I dare not hope it," rejoined Gabriel,
with an air of authority. "I have no desire to make matters appear
better than they really are, but only that they should not be made to
appear worse. I wished to prove to every one of you, and first of all,
to you, Master Jean Peuquoy, who have given utterance to such noble but
gloomy words,--I wished to prove to you, in the first place, that the
king does not abandon you, and in the second place, that your fall might
be glorious, but obstinate resistance must be of the greatest service.
You said a moment since, 'Let us offer ourselves as a sacrifice;' and
now you say, 'Let us fight.' It is a great step forward. Yes, it is
possible, nay, it may be probable that the sixty thousand men who are
now besieging your frail ramparts will end by carrying them. But in the
first place, do not imagine that the noble struggle you will have
maintained will expose you to cruel reprisals. Philibert Emmanuel is a
brave soldier, who loves and honors bravery in others, and will never
punish you for your valor. And last of all, think that if you can hold
out ten or twelve days more, you will perhaps have lost your town, but
you will surely have saved your country. A sublime and noble end! Towns,
like men, have their patents of nobility; and the mighty deeds that they
accomplish are their titles and their ancestors. Your little children,
men of St. Quentin, will some day be proud of their fathers. Your walls
may be destroyed; but who can ever destroy the glorious memory of this
siege? Courage, then, heroic sentinels of a kingdom! Save the king, and
save your country. But a moment ago, with heads bowed down, you seemed
to have resolved to die, the willing victims of stern necessity. Lift up
your heads! If you perish, let it be as willing heroes, and your memory
shall never perish! Thus you can heartily join me in the cry: 'Vive la
France!' and 'Vive St. Quentin!'"
"Vive la France! Vive St. Quentin! Vive le roi!" burst enthusiastically
from a hundred throats.
"And now," said Gabriel, "to the ramparts and to work! and encourage by
your example your fellow-citizens, who await you. To-morrow a hundred
pairs of arms more, I swear, shall be here to aid you in your work of
salvation and of glory."
"To the ramparts!" cried the throng.
And out they rushed, carried away with joy and hope and pride, and
inspiring with their words and their enthusiasm those who had not heard
the words of the unhoped-for liberator, who had been sent by God and
the king to the disheartened town.
Gaspard de Coligny, the worthy and high-minded commander, had listened
to Gabriel in silence born of wonder and admiration. When the whole
assemblage had dispersed with triumphant shouts, he left the seat he had
occupied, went up to the young man, and pressed his hand with an air of
amazement.
"Thanks, Monsieur," said he; "you have saved St. Quentin and myself from
disgrace, and it may be France and the king from destruction."
"Alas! I have done nothing as yet, Monsieur l'Amiral," said Gabriel. "I
must now go back to Vaulpergues; and God alone can enable me to go out
as I came in, and to introduce the hundred men I have promised into the
town. It is God and not I to whom thanks must be rendered, ten days from
now."