to know anything about it till he was wanted for President. And all over
the Latin Quarter, on our side of the river, in cafes and balls and in
shops, and talking to everybody, went the mysterious dwellers of the
Hotel de Luxembourg, sounding public opinion and gathering signs and
omens, and making recruits and laying trains, which, when fired, caused
explosions all over Europe, and sounds which still live in history. And
all the work was duly reported at head-quarters. The great secret of the
success of the revolution was that it was in the hands of so few persons,
who were all absolutely secret and trustworthy. If there had been a few
more, the police would have found us out to a certainty. One who was
suspected was "squared."

At last the ball opened. There was the great banquet, and the muttering
storm, and angry mobs, and small _emeutes_. There is a mere alley--I
forget its name--on the right bank, which runs down to the Seine, in
which it is said that every Paris revolution has broken out. Standing at
its entrance, I saw three or four shots fired and dark forms with guns
moving in the alley, and then came General Changarnier with his cavalry
and made a charge, before which I fled. I had to dodge more than one of
these charges during the day. Before dark the rioting was general, and
barricades were going up. The great storm-bell of Notre Dame rung all
night long.

The next morning I rose, and telling Leonard Field, who lived in the same
hotel with me, that I was going to work in earnest, loaded a pair of
duelling-pistols, tied a sash round my waist _en revolutionnaire_, and
with him went forth to business. First I went to the Cafe Rotonde, hard
by, and got my breakfast. Then I sallied forth, and found in the Rue de
la Harpe a gang of fifty insurgents, who had arms and a crowbar, but who
wanted a leader. Seeing that I was one of them, one said to me, "Sir,
where shall we make a barricade?" I replied that there was one already
to the right and another farther down, but that a third close at hand was
open. Without a word they handed me the crowbar, and I prized up the
stones out of the pavement, while they undertook the harder work of
piling them up. In a few minutes we had a solid wall eight feet high.
Field had on light kid gloves, which formed an amusing contrast to his
occupation. Then remembering that there was a defenceless spot somewhere
else, I marched my troop thither, and built another bar