answered my wife, who was asking what new thing was about to happen, that
it was probably troops marching in or out of garrison. But soon reports
of firearms, accompanied by an uproar with which we were so familiar that
we could no longer mistake its meaning, were heard outside. Opening my
window, I heard bloodcurdling imprecations, mixed with cries of "Long
live the king!" going on. Not being able to remain any longer in this
uncertainty, I woke a captain who lived in the same house. He rose, took
his arms, and we went out together, directing our course towards the
point whence the shouts seemed to come. The moon shone so bright that we
could see everything almost as distinctly as in broad daylight.

A concourse of people was hurrying towards the Cours yelling like madmen;
the greater number of them, half naked, armed with muskets, swords,
knives, and clubs, and swearing to exterminate everything, waved their
weapons above the heads of men who had evidently been torn from their
houses and brought to the square to be put to death. The rest of the
crowd had, like ourselves, been drawn thither by curiosity, and were
asking what was going on. "Murder is abroad," was the answer; "several
people have been killed in the environs, and the patrol has been fired
on." While this questioning was going on the noise continued to
increase. As I had really no business to be on a spot where such things
were going on, and feeling that my place was at my wife's side, to
reassure her for the present and to watch over her should the rioters
come our way, I said good-bye to the captain, who went on to the
barracks, and took the road back to the suburb in which I lived.

I was not more than fifty steps from our house when I heard loud talking
behind me, and, turning, saw gun barrels glittering in the moonlight. As
the speakers seemed to be rapidly approaching me, I kept close in the
shadow of the houses till I reached my own door, which I laid softly to