from the island was great, for the insurgents
would fire on fugitives from the right bank of the river, the Versailles
troops from the left. A warder, at the risk of his life, crept to
the water's edge opposite to the Versaillais, and waved a white
handkerchief. As soon as he was seen, the troops ceased firing.
Every moment it was expected that the roof of the prison would
fall in, when suddenly the reservoir on the top of the building
gave way, and the flames were checked by a rush of water. Braquond
had said to Judge Bonjean a few days before he was sent from the
Prefecture to Mazas, "I can stay here no longer. I am going to
escape to Versailles." M. Bonjean replied: "As a magistrate I command
you to remain; as a prisoner I implore you. What would become of
those under your care if the friends of the Commune were set over
them?"

The Ministry of Marine (that is, the Navy Department) is situated
in the Rue Saint-Florentin, near the Rue Royale and the Place de
la Concorde,--the most beautiful part of the city. The officer who
held it for the Commune was Colonel Brunei, an excellent middle-aged
man, far too good for his associations. There was no stain of any
kind on his past life, but he had been disappointed when peace
was made with the Germans, and had joined the Commune in a moment
of patriotic enthusiasm. Once in its service, there was no way
to escape.

On May 23 the Versaillais were gaining every moment. There was a
man named Matillion, charged by the Central Committee to do anything
or to burn anything to prevent their advance. That night, when
houses that he had set on fire were blazing in the Rue Royale (he
had had petroleum pumped upon them by fire-engines), there was a
fierce orgy held by the light of the flames before the Church of
the Madeleine. A wild, demon-like dance was led by three women
who had done duty all day as _petroleuses_,--Florence, Aurore,
and Marie. Marie had been publicly thanked at the Hotel-de-Ville
for sending a cannonball through one of the statues before the
Chamber of Deputies.

Three battalions of Communist soldiers stationed in the Ministry
of Marine, which had been converted into a hospital, took advantage
of the fact that the general attention was fixed upon this orgy to
quit their post and steal away, leaving the Ministry undefended.
It was eleven at night; Colonel Brunel was sending to the Central
Committee for fresh soldiers and fresh orders, when a paper was
given him.