“How many?”

“Six thousand at the least.”

The king could not refrain from saying: “Good!” he went on, —

“Are they armed?”

“With scythes, pikes, hackbuts, pickaxes.

All sorts of very violent weapons.”

The king did not appear in the least disturbed by this list. Jacques considered it his duty to add, —

“If your majesty does not send prompt succor to the bailiff, he is lost.”

“We will send,” said the king with an air of false seriousness. “It is well. Assuredly we will send. Monsieur the bailiff is our friend. Six thousand! They are desperate scamps! Their audacity is marvellous, and we are greatly enraged at it. But we have only a few people about us to-night. To-morrow morning will be time enough.”