e left fired a last volley upon the troops from
the height of the paving-stones. Then they awaited their death. All
were killed.

One of those who succeeded in slipping into the Rue Saint Jean, where
moreover they ran the gauntlet of a volley from their assailants, was
M.H. Coste, Editor of the _Evenement_ and of the _Avenement du Peuple_.

M. Coste had been a captain in the Garde Mobile. At a bend in the
street, which placed him out of reach of the balls, M. Conte noticed in
front of him the drummer of the Garde Mobile, who, like him, had
escaped by the Rue Saint Jean, and who was profiting by the loneliness
of the street to get rid of his drum.

"Keep your drum," cried he to him.

"For what purpose?"

"To beat the call to arms."

"Where?"

"At Batignolles."

"I will keep it," said the drummer.

These two men came out from the jaws of death, and at once consented to
re-enter them.

But how should they cross all Paris with this drum? The first patrol
which met them would shoot them. A porter of an adjoining house, who
noticed their predicament, gave them a packing-cloth. They enveloped
the drum in it, and reached Batignolles by the lonely streets which
skirt the walls.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE BARRICADE OF THE RUE THEVENOT

Georges Biscarrat was the man who had given the signal for the looting
in the Rue de l'Echelle.

I had known Georges Biscarrat ever since June, 1848. He had taken part
in that disastrous insurrection. I had had an opportunity of being
useful to him. He had been captured, and was kneeling before the
firing-party; I interfered, and I saved his life, together with that of
some others, M., D., D., B., and that brave-hearted architect Rolland,
who when an exile, later on, so ably restored the Brussels Palace of
Justice.

This took place on the 24th June, 1848, in the underground floor of No.
93, Boulevard Beaumarchais, a house then in course of construction.

Georges Biscarrat became attached to me. It appeared that he was the
nephew of one of the oldest and best friends of my childhood, Felix
Biscarrat, who died in 1828. Georges Biscarrat came to see me from time
to time, and on occasions he asked my advice or gave me information.

Wishing to preserve him from evil influences, I had given him, and he
had accepted, this guiding maxim, "No insurrection except for Duty and
for Right."

What was this hooting in the Rue de l'Echelle? Let us relate the
incident.

On the 2d of Dec