So dropped one by one the
protectors of our trampled bodies and of our outraged monarch. Secure
then of their prey, one of the assassins opened the carriage door,
and with shocking imprecations seizing the king, discharged his
pistol so near his majesty's face, that he felt the heat of the
flash. A second villain cut him on the forehead with a sabre, whilst
the third, who was on horseback, laying hold of the king's collar,
dragged him along the ground through the suburbs of the city.
"During the latter part of this murderous scene, some of our
affrighted people, who had fled, returned with a detachment, and
seeing Butzou and me apparently lifeless, carried us to the royal
palace, where all was commotion and distraction. But the foot-guards
followed the track which the conspirators had taken. In one of the
streets they found the king's hat dyed in blood, and his pelisse
also. This confirmed their apprehensions of his death; and they came
back filling all Warsaw with dismay.
"The assassins, meanwhile, got clear of the town. Finding, however,
that the king, by loss of blood, was not likely to exist much longer
by dragging him towards their employer, and that delay might even
lose them his dead body, they mounted him, and redoubled their speed.
When they came to the moat, they compelled him to leap his horse
across it. In the attempt the horse fell and broke its leg.
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