"To hell with the Pope! To hell with the Pope!" the voice rang out, and
it had hardly ceased before the Manitou procession made a rush forward.
The apparent leader of the Manitou roughs was a blackbearded man of
middle height, who spoke raucously to the crowd behind him.
Suddenly a powerful voice rang out.
"Halt, in the name of the Queen!" it called. Surprise is the very essence
of successful war. The roughs of Manitou had not looked for this. They
had foreseen the appearance of the official Chief Constable of Lebanon;
they had expected his challenge and warning in the vernacular; but here
was something which struck them with consternation--first, the giant of
Manitou in the post of command, looking like some berserker; and then the
formal reading of that stately document in the name of the Queen.
Far back in the minds of every French habitant present was the old
monarchical sense. He makes, at worst, a poor anarchist, though he is a
good revolutionist; and the French colonials had never been divorced from
monarchical France.
In the eyes of the most forward of those on the Sagalac bridge, there was
a sudden wonderment and confusion. To the dramatic French mind,
ceremonial is ever welcome; and for a moment it had them in its grip, as
old Gabriel Druse read out in his ringing voice, the trenchant royal
summons.
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