Ange Pitou by Alexandre Dumas part three

“Well, then, will you command us?” said Claude to Pitou.

“Who,—I?” exclaimed Pitou, starting with surprise.

“Yes, you,—yourself!”

And the two conspirators intently eyed Pitou.

“Oh, you hesitate!” cried Claude.

“Why—”

“You are not, then, a good patriot?” said Désiré.

“Oh! that, for example-—”

“There is something, then, that you are afraid of?”

“What! I? I, a conqueror of the Bastille,—a man to whom a medal is awarded?”

“You have a medal awarded you?”

“I shall have one as soon as the medals have been struck. Monsieur Billot has promised to apply for mine in my name.”

“He will have a medal! We shall have a chief who has a medal!” exclaimed Claude, in a transport of joy.

“Come now, speak out;” said Désiré; “will you accept the appointment?”

“Do you accept?” asked Claude.

“Well, then, yes; I will accept it,” said Pitou, carried away by his enthusiasm, and also, perhaps, by a feeling which was awakening within him, and which is called pride.

“It is agreed; from to-morrow morning you will be our commander.”

“And what shall I command you to do?”

“Our exercise, to be sure.”

“And the muskets?”

“Why, since you know where there are muskets—”

“Oh, yes! at the house of the Abbé Fortier.”

“Undoubtedly.”

“Only it is very likely the Abbé Fortier will refuse to let me have them.”

“Well, then, you will do as the patriots did at the Invalides,—you will take them.”

“What! I alone?”

“You will have our signatures, and should it be necessary, you shall have our hands too. We will cause a rising in Villers-Cotterets; but we will have them.”

Pitou shook his head.

“The Abbé Fortier is a very obstinate man,” said he.

“Pooh! you were his favorite pupil; he would not be able to refuse you anything.”

“It is easy to perceive that you do not know him!” cried Pitou, with a sigh.

“How! do you believe the old man would refuse?”

“He would refuse them even to a squadron of the Royal Germans. He is dreadfully obstinate, injustum et tenacem. But I forgot,—you do not even understand Latin,” added Pitou, with much compassion.

But the two Haramontese did not allow themselves to be dazzled either by the quotation or the apostrophe.

“Ah, in good truth,” said Désiré, “we have chosen an excellent chief, Claude; he is alarmed at everything.”

Claude shook his head.

Pitou perceived that he was compromising his high position; he remembered that fortune always favors the brave.

“Well, be it so,” said he; “I will consider it.”

“You, then, will manage the affair of the muskets?”

“I will promise to do all I can.”

An expression of satisfaction was uttered by his two friends, replacing the slight discontent they had before manifested.

“Ho! ho!” said Pitou to himself, “these men want to dictate to me even before I am their chief; what will they do, then, when I shall be so in reality?”

“Do all you can,” said Claude, shaking his head; “oh, oh! that is not enough.”

“If that is not enough,” replied Pitou, “try you to do more. I give up my command to you. Go and see what you can make of the Abbé Fortier and his cat-o’ nine-tails.”

“That would be well worth while,” said Maniquet, disdainfully. “It is a pretty thing, indeed, for a man to return from Paris with a helmet and a sabre, and then to be afraid of a cat-o’-nine-tails.”

“A helmet and a sabre are not a cuirass; and even if they were, the Abbé Fortier would still find a place on which to apply his cat-o’-nine-tails.”

Claude and Désiré appeared to comprehend this last observation.

“Come, now, Pitou, my son,” said Claude. (“My son” is a term of endearment much used in the country.)

“Well, then, it shall be so,” said Pitou; “but zounds! you must be obedient.”

“You will see how obedient we shall be,” said he, giving a wink to Désiré.

“Only,” added Désiré, “you must engage with regard to the muskets—”

“Oh! that is agreed upon,” cried Pitou, interrupting him, who was in truth extremely uneasy at the task imposed upon him, but whom, however, ambition was counselling to venture on deeds which required great daring.

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