"The 5th of every month regularly, Pierre? It seems to me that the English are not prudent to fix every man's day of service in advance." "Oh," said the armorer, shaking his head, "there is not much danger after holding the place for two centuries. Besides, they can't help being a little suspicious at all times of the civic guard, and take care to station them only at points which are naturally impregnable; for instance, I always do sentry duty on the platform of the Octagonal Tower, which is much more efficiently protected by the sea than by me, and where none but sea-gulls can approach, I think." "Aha! so you are always on sentry duty on the platform of the Octagonal Tower on the 5th of the month, Pierre?" "Yes; from four to six in the morning. I was allowed to select my own time, and I prefer that because during three fourths of the year I can see the sun rise out of the ocean at that hour; and that is a divine spectacle even for a poor trader like myself." "A spectacle so divine, in fact, Pierre," said Jean Peuquoy, lowering his voice, "that if, despite the strength of the position, some bold adventurer should try to scale the side of your Octagonal Tower, you would not see him, I'll wager, so deeply absorbed would you be in contemplating it." Pierre looked wonderingly at his cousin. "I should not see him, to be sure," he replied after a moment's hesitation, "for I should know that no one but a Frenchman could have any interest in getting into the city; and since I am under constraint, I have no duty toward those who constrain me,--in tact, rather than repulse the assailant, I might perhaps assist him to get in." "Well said, Pierre!" cried Jean. "You see, Monseigneur, that Pierre is a devoted Frenchman," he added, addressing Gabriel. "Yes, indeed I do, Master," replied the latter, still paying little heed in spite of himself to an interview which seemed to him of no use. "I see that he is; but alas! what is the good of his devotion?" "What good? I am going to tell you," was Jean's response; "for I think it is my turn now to speak. Well, then, Monsieur le Vicomte, if you choose, we can take our revenge for St. Quentin here at Calais. The English, relying upon their two centuries of possession, are slumbering in false security; this sleepy confidence will be their ruin. Monseigneur can see that we have auxiliaries within the town always ready. Let us carefully mature plans; let your intervention with the powers that he come to our aid, and my reason, even more surely than my instinct, tells me that a bold stroke will make us masters of the town. You understand me, do you not, Monseigneur?"