He has just sent a man
to tell the captain where I am. Our only chance
is to lame their horses."
"Which is the spy?"
"The first man I fire at. Are you all ready?
They have made a lane to us; they are going to
come with a rush."
"Out of the way there!" shouted the captain.
"In the name of His Holiness!"
The crowd had drawn back, startled and wondering;
and the soldiers made a quick dash towards
the little group standing by the palace steps.
The Gadfly drew a pistol from his blouse and fired,
not at the advancing troops, but at the spy, who
was approaching the horses, and who fell back
with a broken collar-bone. Immediately after
the report, six more shots were fired in quick succession,
as the conspirators moved steadily closer
to the tethered horses.
One of the cavalry horses stumbled and
plunged; another fell to the ground with a fearful
cry. Then, through the shrieking of the panic-stricken
people, came the loud, imperious voice of
the officer in command, who had risen in the
stirrups and was holding a sword above his head.
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