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enlist in our ranks, penalty of death against any one who is found in a
secret meeting, penalty of death against any one who shall post up an
appeal to arms; if you are taken during the combat, death; if you are
taken after the combat, transportation or exile; on the one side an army
and a Crime; on the other a handful of men and Right. Such is this
struggle. Do you accept it?"
A unanimous shout answered me, "Yes! yes!"
This shout did not come from the mouths, it came from the souls. Baudin,
still seated next to me, pressed my hand in silence.
It was settled therefore at once that they should meet again on the next
day, Wednesday, between nine and ten in the morning, at the Salle Roysin,
that they should arrive singly or by little separate groups, and that
they should let those who were absent know of this rendezvous. This
done, there remained nothing more but to separate. It was about
midnight.
One of Cournet's scouts entered. "Citizen Representatives," he said,
"the regiment is no longer there. The street is free."
The regiment, which had probably come from the Popincourt barracks close
at hand, had occupied the street opposite the blind alley for more than
half an hour, and then had returned to the barracks. Had they judged the
attack inopportune or dangerous at night in that narrow blind alley, and
in the centre of this formidable Popincourt district, where the
insurrection had so long held its own in June, 1848? It appeared certain
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