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man," and that other saying of the same witty vagabond respecting the
members taken to the Quai d'Orsay, "These are the last Representatives
who will be made prisoners." He told us that a placard was at that very
moment being printed which declared that "Any one who should be found at
a secret meeting would be immediately shot." The placard, in truth,
appeared the next morning.
Baudin rose up. "The coup d'état redoubles its rage," exclaimed he.
"Citizens, let us redouble our energy!"
Suddenly a man in a blouse entered. He was out of breath. He had run
hard. He told us that he had just seen, and he repeated, had seen with
"his own eyes," in the Rue Popincourt, a regiment marching in silence,
and wending its way towards the blind alley of No. 82, that we were
surrounded, and that we were about to be attacked. He begged us to
disperse immediately.
"Citizen Representatives," called out Cournet, "I have placed scouts in
the blind alley who will fall back and warn us if the regiment penetrates
thither. The door is narrow and will be barricaded in the twinkling of
an eye. We are here, with you, fifty armed and resolute men, and at the
first shot we shall be two hundred. We are provided with ammunition. You
can deliberate calmly."
And as he concluded he raised his right arm, and from his sleeve fell
a large poniard, which he had concealed, and with the other hand he
rattled in his pocket the butts of a pair of pistols.
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