cret, and saying nothing, in order not to give the alarm to
his compromised colleagues, so as, in case of failure, to leave the
people some men to devour. For this little school of Machiavellian apes
the hopes of a successful escape lie in the abandonment of their
friends. During their flight they throw their accomplices behind them.

[12] A popular nickname for Louis Bonaparte. Faustin Soulouque was the
negro Emperor of Hayti, who, when President of the Republic, had carried
out a somewhat similar _coup d'etat_ in 1848, being subsequently elected
Emperor. He treated the Republicans with great cruelty, putting most of
them to death.

CHAPTER X.

WHAT FLEURY WENT TO DO AT MAZAS

During the same night towards four o'clock the approaches of the
Northern Railway Station were silently invested by two regiments; one
of Chasseurs de Vincennes, the other of _Gendarmerie Mobile_. Numerous
squads of _sergents de ville_ installed themselves in the terminus. The
station-master was ordered to prepare a special train and to have an
engine ready. A certain number of stokers and engineers for night
service were retained. No explanation however was vouchsafed to any
one, and absolute secrecy was maintained. A little before six o'clock a
movement was apparent in the troops. Some _sergents de ville_ came
running up, and a few minutes afterwards a squadron of Lancers emerged
at a sharp trot from the Rue du Nord. In the centre of the squadron and
between the two lines of horse-soldiers could be seen two police-vans
drawn by post-horses, behind each vehicle came a little open barouche,
in which there sat one man. At the head of the Lancers galloped the
aide-de-camp Fleury.

The procession entered the courtyard, then the railway station, and the
gates and doors were reclosed.

The two men in the barouches made themselves known to the Special
Commissary of the station, to whom the aide-de-camp Fleury spoke
privately. This mysterious convoy excited the curiosity of the railway
officials; they questioned the policemen, but these knew nothing. All
that they could tell was that these police-vans contained eight places,
that in each van there were four prisoners, each occupying a cell, and
that the four other cells were filled by four _sergents de ville_
placed between the prisoners so as to prevent any communication between
the cells.

After various consultations between the aide-de-camp of the Elysee and
the men of the Prefect