Orgon, with two cockades, one white, and one tricoloured, and by peeping
out from carriage windows we were able to see which was worn by the
troops we were approaching in time to attach a similar one to our hats
before we got up to them, whilst we hid the other in our shoes; then as
we were passing we stuck our heads, decorated according to circumstances,
out of the windows, and shouted vigorously, 'Long live the king!' or
'Long live the emperor!' as the case demanded. Thanks to this concession
to political opinions on the highway, and in no less degree to the money
which we gave by way of tips to everybody everywhere, we arrived at
length at the barriers of Nimes, where we came up with the National
Guards who had been repulsed by the townspeople of Beaucaire.

"This is what had taken place just before we arrived in the city:

"The National Guard of Nimes and the troops of which the garrison was
composed had resolved to unite in giving a banquet on Sunday, the 28th of
June, to celebrate the success of the French army. The news of the
battle of Waterloo travelled much more quickly to Marseilles than to
Nimes, so the banquet took place without interruption. A bust of
Napoleon was carried in procession all over the town, and then the
regular soldiers and the National Guard devoted the rest of the day to
rejoicings, which were followed by no excess.

"But the day was not quite finished before news came that numerous
meetings were taking place at Beaucaire, so although the news of the
defeat at Waterloo reached Nimes on the following Tuesday, the troops
which we had seen returning at the gates of the city had been despatched
on Wednesday to disperse these assemblies. Meantime the Bonapartists,
under the command of General Gilly, amongst whom was a regiment of
chasseurs, beginning to despair of the success of their cause, felt that