ince you fainted at the prick of a leech, and were not
ashamed to burst into tears when I cut out one of your warts, I knew you
to be a coward. Yes, a coward you are, and a very poor creature to boot;
but whatever else I am, I am not that. Twice have I broken the bone of
my own leg because it was improperly set, and I am ready to have my neck
broken into the bargain if only I may bear witness to the truth. Those,
sir, are my sentiments. And now is there anybody here with whom a man
can talk common-sense?"

Bound and helpless as he was, the doctor still seemed to have made some
impression on the mob. Thomas Bodza, therefore, hastened to cut him
short.

"Then you maintain," he began, "that the gentry have _not_ poisoned the
peasants?"

"A man must be mad to even ask such a question."

"Then why are so many people now dying all over the kingdom?"

"Because of their sins. They are dying of a terrible plague which is in
the air, in the earth, in the very meat and drink which God has given
us, in the heat of the day, and in the chill of night--a plague which is
no respecter of persons, but slays lord and serf, rich and poor alike;
which will visit you, too, if not to-day then to-morrow, which will
destroy a tenth part of your households, which will search you out
wherever you are, in the forest, in the fields, within your cottages,
though you were to slay instantly every gentleman in the county. You
will, therefore, do well to untie my hands, and let me distribute
amongst you the blessed antidote, by means of which, with God's
assistance, we may be able to prevent this terrible calamity."

Thomas Bodza felt something of the paralysis of extreme terror when he
saw the impression made by these words upon the mob, which evidently
already began to waver. So he hastily threw himself into the attitude of
a Roman statue, and exclaimed with a loud voice:

"Doctor! I tell you you are lying. Let nobody touch that white powder,
for there is death in it. If you maintain that this powder is not
poison, take some yourself!"

This proposal met with universal approbation.

"Yes, yes! let him swallow some of the stuff he has brought if it is not
poison."

The doctor did not at all relish the idea of taking his own drugs, but
he was careful not to betray his dislike, for he was in a decidedly
ticklish position.

"Death comes from above," he calmly observed to the master. "Medicaments
are no food for a healthy man, but, all the sa