In one of the great squares hereabouts – Jack had lost track of all of them – he'd seen a statue of King Looie riding off to war, with blank spaces on the pedestal to chisel the names of victories he hadn't won yet, and of countries he hadn't captured. Some buildings, likewise, had empty niches: waiting (as everyone in Paris must understand) to receive the statues of the generals who would win those victories for him. Jack needed to find a man whose ambition was to stand forever in one of those niches, and he needed to convince him that he was more likely to win battles with Turk, or Turk's offspring, between his legs. But first he needed to get Turk in some kind of decent physical condition, and that meant riding him.