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The decisive moment drew near.
The outpost had fallen back upon the barricades. The advanced posts of
the Rue de Cléry and the Rue du Cadran had come back. They called over
the roll. Not one of those of the morning was missing.
They were, as we have said, about sixty combatants, and not a hundred,
as the Magnan report has stated.
From the upper extremity of the street where they were stationed it was
difficult to ascertain what was happening. They did not exactly know how
many barricades they were in the Rue Montorgueil between them and Saint
Eustache, whence the troops were coming. They only knew that their
nearest point of resistance was the double Mauconseil barricade, and
that, when all was at an end there, it would be their turn.
Denis had posted himself on the inner side of the barricade in such a
manner that half his body was above the top, and from there he watched.
The glimmer which came from the doorway of the wine-shop rendered his
gestures visible.
Suddenly he made a sign. The attack on the Mauconseil redoubt was
beginning.
The soldiers, in fact, after having some time hesitated before this
double wall of paving-stones, lofty, well-built, and which they supposed
was well defended, had ended by rushing upon it, and attacking it with
blows of their guns.
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