icer of the
National Guard turns the head of the column to the right--before it is
an edifice conspicuous by its illumination of huge and blood-red
lamps--it is the office of "Le National"--the crowd halts--one long loud
shriek of "Vengeance!" goes up--it is succeeded by the thrilling notes
of the Marseillaise from ten thousands lips, and "Marrast! Marrast!" is
the shout that follows.

The windows of the front office were thrown up, and the editor,
surrounded by friends, appeared. His speech was brief but fervid. He
exhorted the people to be firm--to secure their rights beyond
recall--and promised them ample retribution for past wrongs and security
for future rights.

M. Garnier Pages, who stood at the side of Marrast, next addressed the
people in the same strain, amid thunders of applause.

Making a detour to the office of "La Reforme," the multitude were
addressed by M. Flocon, its editor; then, proceeding to the Place de la
Bastille, the corpses were deposited at the foot of the Column of July,
and the crowd dispersed.

The night that succeeded was an awful one. The streets, which an hour
before blazed with the illumination, were dark. Barricades rose in every
direction. At every corner shopmen, workmen, women, clerks and children
were at work. The crash of falling trees, the clank of the lever and the
pickaxe, the rattle of paving stones--these were the significant sounds
that broke the stillness. Every tree on the whole line of the Boulevard
was felled and every lamp-post overthrown; a barricade of immense
strength rose at the end of the Rue Richelieu; the troops offered no
resistance; they piled their arms, lighted their fires and bivouacked
close beside the barricades. At the Hotel de Ville the troops of the
Line and the Chasseurs d'Afrique quietly ate their suppers, smoked their
pipes and laid themselves down to sleep. On the Boulevard des Italiens
appeared three regiments of the Line, a battalion of National Guards, a
regiment of cuirassiers, and three field-pieces, with their caissons of
ammunition. The horses were unharnessed by the people, the caissons
opened, the ammunition distributed and the guns dragged off. The troops,
guards and cuirassiers fraternized.

CHAPTER XX.

ANOTHER MIDNIGHT CONCLAVE.

Again it was midnight. Again the chiefs of the revolution of '48
assembled in conclave. The second of the Three Days had passed, but the
streets of Paris were all alive with excitement.

Every