Alexander Dumas 
Henry of Navarre [PDF ebook] 
The Forty-Five Guardsmen

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. The small army advanced to within cannon shot of the city; there they breakfasted. The meal over, two hours were given the officers and soldiers in which to rest. It was three o’clock in the after noon, that is, there remained scarcely two hours of daylight when the king had the officers summoned to his tent. Henry was very pale, and while he gesticulated, his hands Shook so visibly that their fingers dropped like gloves hung up to dry. Gentlemen, said he, we have come to take Cahors; we must take Cahors, therefore, since we have come for that pur pose; but Cahors must be taken by force; force, you under stand that is, by driving in steel and wood with the flesh.