d it. We heard the glass of several
broken windows falling noisily into the street.

"There is no longer time," said the last-maker calmly; "the barricade is
attacked."

He took a chair and sat down. The two workmen were evidently excellent
marksmen. Two volleys assailed the barricade, one after the other. The
barricade answered with animation. Then the fire ceased. There was a
pause.

"Now they are coming at us with the bayonet! They are coming at the
double!" said a voice in the barricade.

The other voice said, "Let us be off." A last musket-shot was fired.
Then a violent blow which we interpreted as a warning shook our wooden
wall. It was in reality one of the workmen who had thrown down his gun
when going away; the gun in falling had struck the paling of the
ambulance. We heard the rapid steps of the two combatants, as they ran
off.

Almost at the same moment a tumult of voices, and of butt ends of
muskets striking the paving-stones, filled the barricade.

"It is taken," said the last-maker, and he blew out the candle.

To the silence which enveloped this street a moment before succeeded a
sort of ill-omened tumult. The soldiers knocked at the doors of the
houses with the butt-ends of their muskets. It was by a miracle that the
shop-door escaped them. If they had merely pushed against it, they would
have seen that it was not shut, and would have entered.

A voice, probably the voice of an officer, cried out, "Light up the
windows!" The soldiers swore. We heard them say, "Where are those
blackguard Reds? Let us search the houses." The ambulance was plunged in
darkness. Not a word was spoken, not a breath could be heard; even the
dying man, as though he divined the danger, had ceased to gurgle. I felt
the little girl pressing herself against my legs.

A soldier struck the barrels, and said laughingly,--

"Here is something to make a fire with to-night."

Another resumed,--

"Which way have they gone? They were at least thirty. Let us search the
houses."

We heard one raising objections to this,--

"Nonsense! What do you want to do on a night like this? Enter the houses
of the 'middle classes' indeed! There is some waste ground over yonder.
They have taken refuge there."

"All the same," repeated the others, "let us search the houses."

At this moment a musket-shot was fired from the end of the street.

This shot saved us.

In fact, it was probably one of the two workmen who had fired in order