CHAPTER VIII.
PITOU DISCOVERS HE IS BRAVE.
The street appeared void and lonesome to Billet and his friend becausethe cavalry in chase of the Hyers, had gone through the market andscattered after them in the side streets; but as the pair got nearerthe Palais Royale, calling out in a hoarse voice by instinct "Revenge!"men began to appear in doorways, up cellars, out of alleys, from thecarriage gateways, mute and frightened at the first, but, when assuredthat the horse-soldiers had gone on, forming the procession anew, theyrepeated in a low tone, but soon in a loud one: "Revenge!"
Pitou marched behind the farmer, carrying the Savoyard's cap.
Thus the mournful and ghastly cortege arrived on Palais RoyalePlace, where a concourse, drunk with wrath, were holding council andsoliciting the French troops to help them against the foreign ones.
"What are these men in uniform?" inquired Billet, in front of acompany, standing under arms, to bar the road from the Palace maindoors to Chartres Street.
"The French Guards," answered several voices.
"Oh," said the countryman, going nearer and showing the body of theSavoyard which was lifeless now: "are you Frenchmen and let us bemurdered by foreigners?"
The guardsmen shrank back a step involuntarily.
"Dead?" uttered several.
"Dead--murdered, along with lots more by the Royal German dragoons. Didyou not hear the charging cry, the shots, the sword-slashes and theshrieks of the defenseless?"
"Yes," shouted two or three hundred voices: "the people were cut downon Vendome Square."
"And so are you the people," shouted Billet to the soldiers: "It iscowardice of you to let your brothers be hacked to pieces."
"Cowardice?" muttered some of the men in the ranks, threateningly.
"Yes, I said Cowardice, and I say it again. Look here," Billet wenton, taking three steps towards the point where the protest had risen,"perhaps you will shoot me down to prove that you are not cowards?"
"That is all very good," said a soldier; "you are a honest, bluntfellow, my friend, but you are citizens and you do not understand thatsoldiers are bound by orders."
"Do you mean to say?" said Billet, "that if you receive orders to fireon us, unarmed men, that you, the successors of the Guards who, atFontenoy, bade the English shoot first,--would do that?"
"I wager I would not," said the soldier.
"Nor I, nor I," echoed several of his comrades.
"Then stop the others firing on us," continued Billet: "To let theRoyal Germans cut our throats is tantamount to doing it yourselves."
"The dragoons, here come the dragoons!" yelled many at the same time asthe gathering began to retire over the square to get away up RichelieuStreet.
At a distance but approaching, they heard the clatter of heavy cavalry.
"To arms, to arms," cried the runaways.
"Plague on you," said Billet, throwing down the dead Savoyard, "Lend usyour guns if you will not use them."
"Hold on till you see whether we won't use them," said the soldier whomBillet had addressed, as he snatched back the musket which the farmerhad torn from his grip. "Bite your cartridges, boys--and make theAustrians bite the dust if they interfere with these good fellows."
"Ay, they shall see," said the soldiers, carrying their hands from thecartridge-boxes to their mouths.
"Thunder," muttered Billet, stamping his foot: "why did I not bring myold duck-gun along? But one of these pesky Austrians may be laid outand I can get his carbine."
"In the meantime," said a voice, "taking this gun--it is ready loaded."
A stranger slipped a handsome fowling-piece into Billet's hands.
At this very instant, the dragoons rushed into the square, upsettingeverybody they ran against.
The officer commanding the French Guards came out three steps to thefront.
"Halloa, you gentlemen of the heavy dragoons," he called out. "Halt,please."
Whether the cavalry did not hear him, or did not want to hear him, or,again, were carried on by the impetus of a charge too violent to check,the Germans wheeled by a half-turn to the right and trampled down anold man and a woman who disappeared under the hoofs.
"Fire," roared Billet, "why don't you fire?"
He was near the officer and the order might have been taken as comingfrom him. Anyway, the French Guards carried their muskets to theshoulder, and delivered a volley which stopped the dragoons short.
"Here, gentlemen of the Guards," said a German officer, coming beforethe squadron thrown into disorder, "do you know you are firing on us?"
"Yes, by heaven we know it, and you shall know it, too." So Billetretorted, taking aim at the speaker and dropping him with the shot.
Thereupon the reserve rank of the Guards made a discharge and theGermans, seeing that they had trained soldiery to deal with and notcitizens who broke and fled at the first shot, pulled round and madeoff for Vendome Square in the midst of a formidable outburst of hootsand cheers of triumph so that some horses broke loose and smashed theirheads against the store shutters.
"Hurrah for the French Guards!" shouted the multitude.
"Hurrah for the Guards of the Country!" said Billet.
"Thank you," said a soldier, "we are given the right name andchristened with fire."
"I have been under fire, too," said Pitou, "and it is not as dreadfulas I imagined it."
"Now, who owns this gun?" queried Billet, examining the rifle which wasa costly one.
"My master," answered the man who had lent him it, and who wore theOrleans livery. "He thinks you use it too handsomely to have to returnit."
"Where is your master?" demanded the farmer.
The servant pointed to a half-open blind behind which the prince waswatching what happened.
"Is he with us, then?"
"With heart and soul for the people," replied the domestic.
"In that case, three cheers again for the Duke of Orleans!" said thefarmer. "Friends the Duke of Orleans is on our side--three cheers forthe duke!"
He pointed upwards and the prince showed himself for an instant whilehe bowed three times to the shouting; short as was the appearance itlifted enthusiasm to the utmost.
"Break open the gunsmith's," shouted a voice in the turbulence.
"Let us go to the Invalid Soldiers Hospital," added some old veterans."General Sombreuil has twenty thousand muskets there."
"And to the City Hall!" exclaimed others: "Flesselles, Provost of theTraders, has the keys for the town guards' armory and he must give themup."
"To the Hall!" bellowed a fraction of the assemblage.
All flowed away in one or the other of the three directions called out.
During this time the dragoons had rallied around Baron Bezenval andPrince Lambesq on Louis XV. Square.
Billet and Pitou were unaware of this as they followed none of theparties and were left pretty well alone on Palais Royale Square.
"Well, where are we off to, dear Master Billet?" inquired Ange Pitou.
"I should like to follow the crowd," replied the other: "not to thegunmakers', as I have a first-rate gun, but to the City Hall or themilitary Asylum. Still, as we came to town not to fight, but to learnDoctor Gilbert's address. I think we ought to go to Louis-the-Great'sCollege, where his son is. When I shall have got through with thedoctor, we can jump back into the chafing-dish."
His eyes flashed lightnings.
"This course seems logical to me," observed the young peasant.
"So take some weapon, gun or sword, from those beer drinkers lyingthere," said the farmer, pointing to half-a-dozen dragoons on the pave,"and let us go to the college."
"But these weapons are not mine, but the King's," objected Pitou.
"They are the people's," corrected Billet, whereupon the other whoknew the speaker was incapable of wronging a man to the extent of amustard-seed, went up to the nearest corpse with multiplied caution,and making sure he was lifeless, he took his musket, cartridge-box andsabre.
He wanted to take his hamlet but had his doubts about the defensivearmor being "confisticatable" like the offensive arms; whiledeliberating he listened towards Vendome Square.
"It seems to me that the Royal Germans are coming back again," he said.
Indeed a troop of horse was heard coming at the walking gait.
"Quick, quick, they are returning," said Pitou.
"Billet looked around to see what means of resistance were offered, butthe place was almost deserted.
"Let us be off," said he.
He went down Chartres Street, followed by Pitou who dragged the sabreafter him by the scabbard-straps, not knowing how it ought to be hookedup till Billet showed him.
"You looked like a traveling-tinker," he said.
On Louis XV. Square they met the column, started off to go over theriver to the Invalides but stopped short. The bridges and the ChampsElysees were blocked.
"Try the Tuileries Garden bridge," suggested Billet.
It was quite a simple proposition; the mob accepted it and followedBillet: but swords shining half way to the Gardens indicated thatcavalry intercepted the march to that bridge.
"These confounded dragoons are everywhere," grumbled the farmer.
"I believe we are caught," said his friend.
"Nonsense, five or six thousand men are to be caught, and we are thatstrong."
The dragoons came forward, slowly, but it was an advance.
"The Royale Street is left us," said Billet; "come this way, Ange."
But a line of soldiers shut this street up.
"It looks as though you were right," said the countryman.
"Alas!" sighed Ange, who had followed him like his shadow.
All his regret at not being wrong was shown in the single word by thetone it was spoken in.
By its clamor and motion the mob showed that it was no less sensiblethan he about the quandary all were in.
Indeed, by a skillful manoeuvre, Prince Lambesq had encircled therioters in a bow of iron, the cord being represented by the Tuileriesgarden-wall, hard to climb over, and the drawbridge railing, almostimpossible to force. Billet judged that the position was bad. Still,being a cool fellow, full of resources when the emergency rose, helooked round him. Seeing a pile of lumber by the riverside, he said:
"I have a notion, Pitou; come along."
Billet went up to a beam and took up one end, making a nod to hisfollowers as much as to say, "Take your end of it."
Pitou was bent on helping his leader without questioning: he had suchtrust in him that he would have gone down into sheol without grumblingon the length of the road or how the heat increased as they got on. Thepair returned to the waterside walk, carrying a burden which half adozen ordinary men would have sunk under.
Strength is always an object of admiration to the crowd. Although veryclosely packed, way was made for the peasants. Catching an idea of thework ahead, some men walked before the joist-carriers, calling out:"Clear the way, there!"
"I say, Father Billet, are we to make a long job of this?" asked Pitouwhen they had gone some thirty strides.
"Up to that gateway."
"I can go it," replied the young man laconically, as he saw it wasabout as much farther and the crowd, having an inkling of the plan,cheered them.
Besides, some helped to carry and the beam went on much more rapidly.In five minutes they stood before the gates.
"Now, then, heave and all together," said Billet.
"I understand," said Pitou. "This is what the ancient Romans called abattering-ram."
The piece of timber set going, was banged with a terrible blow againstthe gate lock.
The military on guard within the gardens, ran to check this inroad. Butat the third swing the gates yielded, and the multitude flowed into thedark gap.
By the movement, Prince Lambesq perceived that the netted rioters hadfound an outlet. Rage mastered him to see his prisoners escape. Hestarted his horse forward to learn what was the matter, when his men,thinking he was leading a charge, followed him closely. The horses wereheated with their recent work, and could not be restrained. Thirstingfor retaliation for their check on Palais Royale Square, the men didnot probably try hard to restrain them.
The prince, seeing that it was impossible to stop the movement, lethimself be carried away, and a shriek of frightful intensity from womenand children rose to heaven as a claim for its vengeance.
A dreadful scene took place in the gloom. The victims went mad withpain while they who charged were mad with fury.
A kind of defense was organized and chairs were flung at the cavalry.Struck on the head, Prince Lambesq replied with a sword cut, withoutthinking that he was striking the innocent for the guilty. An old manwas sent to the ground. Billet saw this and he uttered a shout. At thesame time he took aim with his rifle and the prince would have beenkilled but for his horse having reared at the very instant. It receivedthe bullet in the neck and died instantly.
The fallen Prince was believed slain, and the dragoons rushed into theTuileries Gardens, firing their pistols at the fugitives.
But they, having plenty of room, dodged behind the trees.
Billet tranquilly reloaded his fowling-piece.
"You are right, Pitou, we have come to town on time," he said.
"And I think I am becoming brave," remarked Pitou, standing thepistol fire of a horseman and spilling him out of the saddle with hismusketoon; "it is not so hard as I thought."
"That's so," replied the other, "but useless bravery is bravado. Comealong, and don't let your sword trip you up."
"Wait for me, Father Billet, for I do not know Paris like you do; andwithout you, I shall go astray."
"Come, come," said the farmer, leading him along the river terraceuntil they had distanced the troops advancing by the quays as rapidlyas they could to help the Lambesq Dragoons, if needed.
At the end of the terrace, he sat on the parapet and jumped down on theembankment running along the river. Pitou did the same.
Taking the Bastile; Or, Pitou the Peasant Page 9