"We are forestalled," murmured the doctor; "it will be necessary
now to wait for re-enforcements; nothing can be done for a
quarter of an hour."

Here Lieutenant Picard appeared: "The curate refuses to obey,"
said he; "he has even shut himself up in the church with the
beadle and the porter."

On the other side of the square, opposite the white, closed front
of the mairie, the church, mute and black, showed its great oak
door with the wrought-iron trimmings.

Then, as the puzzled inhabitants put their noses out of the
windows, or came out upon the steps of their houses, the rolling
of a drum was heard, and Torcheboeuf suddenly appeared, beating
with fury the three quick strokes of the call to arms. He crossed
the square with disciplined step, and then disappeared on a road
leading to the country.

The Commander drew his sword, advanced alone to the middle
distance between the two buildings where the enemy was barricaded
and, waving his weapon above his head, roared at the top of his
lungs: "Long live the Republic! Death to traitors!" Then he fell
back where his officers were. The butcher, the baker, and the
apothecary, feeling a little uncertain, put up their shutters and
closed their shops. The grocery alone remained open.

Meanwhile the men of the militia were arriving, little by little,
variously clothed, but all wearing caps, the cap constituting the
whole uniform of the corps. They were armed with their old, rusty