reach above the knee. "It will at all
events be good enough to get killed in," said a little street Arab who
was rolling numerous flag-stones to the barricade. A hundred combatants
took up their position behind it. Towards nine o'clock the movements of
the troops gave warning of the attack. The head of the column of the
Marulaz Brigade occupied the corner of the street on the side of the
boulevard. A piece of artillery, raking the whole of the street, was
placed in position before the Porte Saint Martin. For some time both
sides gazed on each other in that moody silence which precedes an
encounter; the troops regarding the barricade bristling with guns, the
barricade regarding the gaping cannon. After a while the order for a
general attack was given. The firing commenced. The first shot passed
above the barricade, and struck a woman who was passing some twenty
paces in the rear, full in the breast. She fell, ripped open. The fire
became brisk without doing much injury to the barricade. The cannon was
too near; the bullets flew too high.

The combatants, who had not yet lost a man, received each bullet with a
cry of "Long live the Republic!" but without firing. They possessed few
cartridges, and they husbanded them. Suddenly the 49th regiment
advanced in close column order.

The barricade fired.

The smoke filled the street; when it cleared away, there could be seen
a dozen men on the ground, and the soldiers falling back in disorder by
the side of the houses. The leader of the barricade shouted, "They are
falling back. Cease firing! Let us not waste a ball."

The street remained for some time deserted. The cannon recommenced
fining. A shot came in every two minutes, but always badly aimed. A man
with a fowling-piece came up to the leader of the barricade, and said
to him, "Let us dismount that cannon. Let us kill the gunners."

"Why!" said the chief, smiling, "they are doing us no harm, let us do
none to them."

Nevertheless the sound of the bugle could be distinctly heard on the
other side of the block of houses which concealed the troops echelloned
on the Square of Saint Martin, and it was manifest that a second attack
was being prepared.

This attack would naturally be furious, desperate, and stubborn.

It was also evident that, if this barricade were carried, the entire
street would be scoured. The other barricades were still weaker than
the first, and more feebly defended. The "middle class" had given the