And while they were singing, Thord,
glancing rapidly about him, saw Johan Zegota close at hand, and to his
still greater satisfaction, Pasquin Leroy; and beckoning them both to
his side whispered his brief orders, which were at once comprehended.
The day was breaking; and in the purple east a line of crimson showed
where the sun would presently rise. A few minutes' quick organisation
worked by Leroy and Zegota, and some few other of their comrades
sufficed to break up the mob into three sections, and in perfect order
they stood blocked for a moment, like the three wings of a great army.
Then once more Thord addressed them:
"People, you have heard my vow! If before the end of the month Carl
Perousse is not ejected with contempt from office, I will ask my death
at your hands! A meeting will be convened next week at the People's
Assembly Rooms where we shall make arrangements to approach the King.
If the King refuses to receive us, we shall find means to make him do
so! He _shall_ hear us! He is our paid servant, and he is bound to
serve us faithfully,--or the Throne shall be a thing of the past, to be
looked back upon with regret that we, a great and free people, ever
tolerated its vice and tyranny!"
Here he waited to let the storm of plaudits subside,--and then
continued: "Now part, all of you friends!--go your ways,--and keep
order for yourselves with vigilance! The soldiery are here, but they
dare not fire!--the police are here, but they dare not arrest! Give
them no cause even to say that it would have been well to do either!
Let the spiritual force of your determined minds,--fixed on a noble and
just purpose, over-rule mere temporal authority; let none have to blame
you for murder or violence,--take no life,--shed no blood; but let your
conquest of the Government,--your capture of the Throne,--be a glorious
moral victory, outweighing any battle gained only by brute force and
rapine!"
He was answered by a strenuous cheer; and then the three great sections
of the multitude began to move.
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