e he sprang from the scaffold, and disappeared in the
dense crowd that already thronged the space within the rails.

By this time the populace were not only masters of the area around,
but had also gained the scaffold itself, from which many of them seemed
endeavouring to harangue the mob--others contenting themselves with
imitating the gestures of the commissary and his functionaries. It was
a scene of the wildest uproar and confusion--frantic cries and screams,
ribald songs and fiendish yellings on every side. The guillotine was
again uncovered, and the great crimson drapery, torn into fragments,
was waved about like flags, or twisted into uncouth head-dresses. The
commissary, failing in every attempt to restore order peaceably, and
either not possessing a sufficient force, or distrusting the temper of
the soldiers, descended from the scaffold, and gave the order to march.
This act of submission was hailed by the mob with the most furious yell
of triumph. Up to that very moment they had never credited the bare
possibility of a victory; and now they saw themselves suddenly masters
of the field--the troops, in all the array of horse and foot, retiring
in discomfiture. The exultation knew no bounds; and, doubtless, had
there been amongst them those with skill and daring to profit by the
enthusiasm, the torrent had rushed a longer and more terrific course
than through the blood-steeped clay of the Place de Greve.

'Here is the man we want,' shouted a deep voice. 'St. Just told us
t' other day that the occasion never failed to produce one; and see,
here is "Jean Gougon"; and though he's but two feet high, his fingers
can reach the pin of the guillotine.'

And he held aloft on his shoulders a misshapen dwarf, who was well known
on the Pont Neuf, where he gained his living by singing infamous songs,
and performing mockeries of the service of the mass. A cheer of welcome
acknowledged this speech, to which the dwarf responded by a mock
benediction, which he bestowed with all the ceremonious observance of an
archbishop. Shouts of the wildest laughter followed this ribaldry, and
in a kind of triumph they carried him up the steps, and deposited him on
the scaffold.

Ascending one of the chairs, the little wretch proceeded to address the
mob, which he did with all the ease and composure of a practised public
speaker. Not a murmur was heard in that tumultuous assemblage, as
he, with a most admirable imitation of Hebert, then the