It was only
necessary to close the gates of the city. It was not with fowling-pieces
and clubs that these poor peasants could force an entrance into a
fortified town.
But such moderation did not suit a man of the duke's violent
temperament, a man who was ever longing for struggle and excitement, a
man whose ambition prompted him to display his zeal.
He had ordered the gate of the citadel to be left open, and had
concealed some of his soldiers behind the parapets of the outer
fortifications.
He then stationed himself where he could command a view of the approach
to the citadel, and deliberately chose his moment for giving the signal
to fire.
Still, a strange thing happened. Of four hundred shots, fired into a
dense crowd of fifteen hundred men, only three had hit the mark.
More humane than their chief, nearly all the soldiers had fired in the
air.
But the duke had not time to investigate this strange occurrence now.
He leaped into the saddle, and placing himself at the head of about
five hundred men, cavalry and infantry, he started in pursuit of the
fugitives.
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