For it came to that. He found a thin garrison, a pompous bailiff,
wordy and precise, headboroughs without heads, and a panic-stricken
horde of shopkeepers with things to lose, who spent the day in crying
"Danger," and the night in drinking beer. Outside, somewhere, was an
enemy who might be a rascal, but was certainly a man. Professional
honour was touched on a raw. Since he was in, in God's name let him do
something. After a day spent in observing the manners and customs of
Wanmeeting in a state of semi-siege, he got very precise ideas of what
they were likely to be in a whole one. He called on the High Bailiff
and spoke his mind.
"Bailiff," he said very quietly, "your defences are not good, but they
are too good to defend nothing. I am sorry I cannot put your citizens
at a higher figure. There does not seem to me to be a man among them.
They chatter like pies, they drink like fishes, they herd like sheep,
they scream like gulls. They love their wives and children, but so do
rabbits; they are snug at home, but so are pigs in a stye; they say
many prayers, they give alms to the poor. But no prayers will ever
stay Galors, and the alms your people want I spell with an 'r.' I know
Master Galors, and he me. If he comes here the town will be carried,
the men hanged, the women ravished, and I shall be killed like a rat
in a drain. Now I set little store by my life, but I and the man I
have brought with me intend to die in the open. Do what you choose,
but understand that unless things alter to my liking, I take myself,
my sword, and my head for affairs into the country."
"And who are you, Messire, and what do I know of your head for
affairs?" cried the High Bailiff, on his dignity.
"My name is Prosper le Gai, at your service," the youth replied; "and
as for my head, it becomes me not to speak."
"If you will not speak of it, why are you here?" asked the High
Bailiff, at the mercy of his logic.
"I am here, sir, for the purpose of killing Dom Galors de Born."
"You speak very confidently, young gentleman."
"There is no boasting where there is no doubt."
"Is there no doubt, pray, whether he might kill you?"
"I intend to remove that doubt," said Prosper.
"Pray how, sir?"
"By killing him first."
The end of it all was that the High Bailiff, in the presence of the
Jurats and citizens, solemnly girt on Prosper the sword of the
borough, and declared Messire Prosper le Gai of Starning to be
generalissimo of its forces. Prosper at once paraded the garrison.