er looks and gestures, showed that some event
of great moment had occurred. I stopped to ask what it meant, and
learned that Robespierre had been denounced in the Assembly, and that
his followers were hastening, in arms, to the Place de Greve. As yet,
men spoke in whispers, or broken phrases. Many were seen affectionately
embracing and clasping each other's hands in passionate emotion, but few
dared to trust themselves to words, for none knew if the peril were
really passed, or if the power of the tyrant might not become greater
than ever. While I yet listened to the tidings which, in half sentences
and broken words, reached my ears, the roll of drums, beating the
"generale," was heard, and suddenly the head of a column appeared,
carrying torches, and seated upon ammunition-wagons and caissons, and
chanting in wild chorus the words of the "Marseillaise." On they came, a
terrible host of half-naked wretches, their heads bound in
handkerchiefs, and their brawny arms bare to the shoulders.

The artillery of the Municipale followed, many of the magistrates riding
among them dressed in the tricolored scarfs of officers. As the
procession advanced, the crowds receded, and gradually the streets were
left free to the armed force.

While, terror-struck, I continued to gaze at the countenances over which
the lurid torchlight cast a horrid glare, a strong hand grasped my
collar, and by a jerk swung me up to a seat on one of the caissons; and
at the same time a deep voice said, "Come, youngster, this is more in
thy way than mine," and a black-bearded "sapeur" pushed a drum before
me, and ordered me to beat the generale. Such was the din and uproar
that my performance did not belie my uniform, and I beat away manfully,
scarcely sorry, amid all my fears, at the elevated position from which
I now surveyed the exciting scene around me.

As we passed, the shops were closed on either side in haste, and across
the windows of the upper stories beds and mattresses were speedily
drawn, in preparation for the state of siege now so imminent. Lights
flickered from room to room, and all betokened a degree of alarm and
terror. Louder and louder pealed the "Marseillaise," as the columns
deployed into the open Place, from which every street and lane now
poured its _tributaires_ of armed men. The line was now formed by the
artillery, which, to the number of sixteen pieces, ranged from end to
end of the square, the dense crowd of horse and foot for