The Whites and the Blues (42 page)

"To fight against him to-morrow, madame, and right willingly too."

1 ' Then you are a royalist, Coster ?''

"Why, yes," replied the young man; "I find that there are more pretty women in that party than in the others. And then—and then—then I have other reasons which are known only to myself."

And bowing a second time with his accustomed elegance, he went out, leaving everybody to comment upon the news he had brought, and which, it is needless to say, did not

completely reassure them, Coster de Saint-Victor notwith standing.

But as the tocsin was ringing ever louder and louder, as the drums continued to beat, and the rain was still falling, there was no hope of further news, and as the bronze clock representing Marius among the ruins of Carthage was chim ing the hour of four, they called their carriages, and went away, secretly uneasy, but outwardly confident.

CHAPTEK XYII

THE HOTEL OF THE RIGHTS OP MAN

AS Coster de Saint-Victor had announced, Barras had been appointed about one o'clock in the morning commander of the forces within and without Paris, and all civil and military authorities were placed under his orders.

This choice did not deserve Coster de Saint-Victor's derision. Barras was brave, cool, and devoted to the cause of liberty, and at Toulon he had given irrefutable proofs of his bravery and patriotism. He did not deceive himself in regard to the danger of the situation, and the terrible responsibility which rested upon his shoulders. Neverthe less, he remained perfectly calm. Even while pushing hia appointment with all his might, he had known of an aux iliary, unknown to all others, upon whom he could rely.

He therefore left the Tuileries immediately after his nomination, attired in a long dark overcoat, and hesitated a moment whether to take a carriage or not; but thinking that a carriage would attract notice and might be stopped, he drew a large pair of pistols from his pocket, and con tented himself with securing them in his deputy's sash be neath his overcoat. Then he set off on foot through the Echelle wicket. He went along the Kue TraversieTe, passed the Palais Eoyal, followed the Kue Neuve-des-Petits-Champs

for a few steps, and found himself opposite the Rue des Fosses-Montmartre. It had been pouring in torrents during all this time.

Everything was in frightful confusion, a fact of which Barras was well aware. He knew that the artillery was still in the camp at Sablons, and that it was guarded by one hun dred and fifty men only. He also knew that there were only eighty thousand cartridges in the magazine, and that there were no provisions and no brandy. He knew that all com munication with the staff, who had their headquarters on the Boulevard des Capucines, was cut off by the Sectionists of the Club Le Peletier, who had extended their line of sen tinels from the Rue des Filles de Saint-Thomas as far as the Rue Saint-Pierre-Montmartre and the Place Vendome. He was aware of the exasperated pride of the Sectionists, who, as we have seen, had raised the standard of revolt; he knew of the expedition of the preceding day, so shamefully con ducted by Menou, and so vigorously received by Morgan, which had doubled their actual strength and quadrupled their moral strength.

On all sides the report was rife that this Section, hemmed in by thirty thousand Conventional, had overawed them by their courage, and had repulsed them, and forced them to shameful retreat by the skilful disposition of their troops.

Every one spoke of the audacity which Morgan had dis played in placing himself between the two troops, of his lofty air, and that hauteur with which he had addressed General Menou and Representative Laporte. It was whis pered, but whispered with the greatest precautions, that he was a great personage, a very great personage, who had only returned to Paris some three or four days before, bearing letters of the highest recommendation to the royalist com mittees in Paris from the royalist committees in London.

The Convention was already no longer hated; it was despised. And, in truth, what had the Sections to fear from it, spared because of its weakness ? They had united during the night of the llth, and on the 12th had sent de-

tachments to support the Mother Section. They therefore felt that the National Convention would be annihilated, and were prepared to sing the De Profundis over its corpse.

Thus, on his way across Paris, Barras was constantly confronted by one or another of those Sections which had come to the assistance of the Mother Section, and who accosted him thus: "Who goes there?"

To which he replied: "A Sectionist."

At every few steps he met a drummer beating a mourn ful recall or general on his relaxed drum, the lugubrious and sinister sound of his mournful performance being better suited to a funeral procession than to their actual purpose. Furthermore, men were seen gliding through the streets like shadows, knocking at doors, and calling upon other men to arm and repair to the Sections to defend their wives and children, whose throats the Terrorists had sworn to cut. Perhaps these attempts would have been less successful in broad daylight; but the mystery which clings to deeds of the night, entreaties in low tones, as if in fear lest assassins should overhear the whispered communication, the mourn ful and incessant beating of the drums and the ringing of the bells—all this caused anxiety and trepidation through out the city, and foretold something indefinite but terrible that was impending.

Barras saw and heard all that. He was no longer judg ing of the city from mere reports; he was feeling its pulse with his own finger. Thus when he left the Kue Neuve-des-Petits-Champs, he hastened his steps almost to a run as he fled across the Place des Yictoires; then gliding along the Eue Fosses-Montmartre, keeping in the shadow of the houses, he finally reached the door of the little hotel of "The Eights of Man." Having gone thus far, he stopped and took a few steps backward, in order to read the sign which he sought by the fitful light of the lamp; after which, approaching the door, he rapped vigorously with the knocker.

A man-servant was in attendance, and he, probably

judging from the vigorous knocking that some one of im portance was without, did not keep him waiting long. The door opened cautiously.

Barras slipped through the opening and shut the door behind him. Then, without waiting to enlighten the ser vant as to the cause of all these precautions, he asked: *' Citizen Bonaparte lodges here, does he not ?''

"Yes, citizen."

4 'Is he at home?"

4 'He returned about an hour ago."

"Where is his room?"

"No. 47, on the fourth floor at the end of the corridor.' 7

"Eight or left?"

"Left."

"Thanks."

Barras hastened up the stairs, soon reaching the top of the four flights, took the corridor to the left, and stopped before the door of No. 47. Once there, he knocked three times.

"Come in," said a curt voice, which seemed made to command.

Barras turned the handle and entered. He found him self in a room furnished with a curtainless bed, two tables, one large and the other small, four chairs and a globe. A sword and a pair of pistols hung on the wall. A young man, completely dressed, except for his uniform, was seated at the smaller of the two tables, studying a plan of Paris by the light of the lamp.

At the sound of the opening door, the occupant of the room turned half-way around in his chair to see who the unexpected visitor, who came at such an hour, could be. As he sat thus the lamp lighted three-quarters of his face, leaving the rest in shade.

He was about twenty-three or four, with an olive com plexion, somewhat lighter at the temples and forehead. His straight black hair was parted in the middle and fell down below his ears. His eagle eye, straight nose and

strong chin and lower jaw, increasing in size as it ap proached his ears, left no doubt as to the trend of his abilities. He was a man of war, belonging to the race of conquerors. Seen thus, and lighted in this way, his face looked like a bronze medallion. He was so thin that all the bones in his face were plainly discernible.

CHAPTEE XVIII

CITIZEN BONAPARTE

BARRAS closed the door and stepped within the circle of light cast by the lamp. Then only did the young man recognize him.

11 Ah I is it you, citizen Barras ?" he asked without rising.

Barras shook himself, for he was drenched, and tossed his dripping hat upon a chair. The young man continued to watch him attentively.

"Yes, it is I, citizen Bonaparte," said he.

"What wind has blown you to the poor soldier's cell at this hour. A mistral or a sirocco ?"

"Mistral, my dear Bonaparte; a mistral of the most vio lent kind."

The young man gave a dry, harsh laugh, which showed his small, sharp, white teeth.

"I know something about it," he said. "I took a walk through Paris this evening."

44 And what is your opinion ?"

44 It is that, as the Section Le Peletier intimated to the Convention, the storm will burst to-morrow."

44 And what were you doing in the meantime ?"

The young man rose, and pointing with his index finger to the map on the table, he said: 44 As you see, I was amus ing myself by planning what I would do if I, instead of that imbecile Menou, were general of the interior, in order to put an end to all these talkers."

"And what would you do?"

"I would try to secure a dozen cannon which would talk louder than they.''

"Did you not tell me one day at Toulon that you had witnessed the rising of the 20th of June from the terrace beside the ornamental waters ?''

The young man shrugged his shoulders contemptuously.

"Yes," he said, "I saw your poor King Louis XVI. put on the red cap, which did not prevent his head from fall ing, and which only disgraced it. And I even said to Bour-rienne, who was with me that day, ' How could they admit that rabble to the chateau ? They should have swept four or five hundred out with cannon, the rest would have run out of themselves.' '

"Unfortunately," resumed Barras, "to-day there are five thousand instead of five hundred to be swept out.''

The young man smiled carelessly.

"A difference of number, that is all," he replied; "but what ultimate difference, so long as the result is the same ? The rest is a mere matter of detail."

*' So much so that you were defeating the insurgents when I came in ?''

"I was making the endeavor."

"And you had your plan laid out?"

"Yes."

"What is it?"

"That depends. How many soldiers can you call upon?"

"Five or six thousand, including the Holy Battalion of Patriots."

4 ' With that number it is useless to think of attacking forty-five or fifty thousand in the streets. I tell you that plainly."

"Would you evacuate Paris?"

"No, but I would convert the Convention into an in trenched camp. I would await the attack of the Sections, and I would annihilate them in the Kue Saint-Honore, the Place du Palais-Koyal, and along the quays and the bridges.' 7

"Well," said Barras, "I will adopt your plan. Will you attend to the execution of it?"

"I?"

"Yes, you."

"In what capacity?"

"As second general of the interior."

"And who is to be general-in-chief ?"

"General-in-Chief?"

"Yes."

"Citizen Barras."

"Then I accept," said the young man, holding out his hand, "but on one condition."

"What, you are making conditions?"

"Why not?"

"Goon."

"If we succeed, and order is restored by to-morrow even ing, I can count upon you if war is declared with Austria, can I not?"

"If we succeed to-morrow, in the first place you shall have all the glory, and I shall ask the chief command of the Armies of the Ehine and the Moselle for you.''

Bonaparte shook his head. "I will go neither to Holland nor to Germany,'' he said.

"Why not?"

"Because there is nothing to be done there."

"Where do you wish to go ?"

"To Italy. It is only in Italy, on the battlefields of Han nibal, Marius and Caesar that there is anything to be done.''

"If there is war in Italy you shall be placed in charge of it, I give you my word of that.''

' * Thank you. And now let us think of to-morrow. There is no time to lose.''

Barras drew out his watch and looked at it.

"I should think not," he said; "it is already three o'clock in the morning.''

"How many cannon have you at the Tuileries?"

"Six four-pounders, but no gunners."

"They can be found. Bronze is scarcer than flesh. How-many rounds can be fired ?''

"Oh! eighty thousand at the outside."

"Eighty thousand—just enough to kill eighty men, sup posing that one shot out of a thousand does execution. Luckily we still have three hours of darkness left to us. We must have all the guns brought from the camp at Sablons, so that, in the first place, the enemy cannot seize them, and then because we need them ourselves. We must take enough men from the gendarmerie and from the bat talion of '89 to man the guns, and we must send for at least a million cartridges from Meudon and Marly. Finally we must find officers upon whom we can depend."

"We have all those who were deposed by Aubry and who have enlisted in the Holy Battalion.*'

* * Splendid! They are men of action' rather than intelli gence, and that is what we need." And the young officer rose, buckled on his sword, buttoned his coat, and blew out his light, murmuring, '' Oh! Fortune, Fortune! do I at last hold you within my grasp ?''

The two men went out and directed their steps toward the Convention. Barras noticed that the young man did not lock his door, which showed that he had nothing of value to lose.

Five hours later—that is to say, at eight in the morning —this is what the two officers had accomplished.

They reached the camp at Sablons in time to bring the artillery to Paris. They established a manufactory of car tridges at Meudon. They planted guns at every avenue, and masked batteries were erected in the event of any of the outlets being carried. A battery, consisting of two eight-pounders and two howitzers, was erected on the Place du Carrousel to cover the columns and to fire on the win dows of the houses from which weapons could be brought to bear upon the place, General Yerdier commanded at the Palais National. Means of subsistence for the Con vention and its soldiers were thus assured for four or five