which excited to
madness the population of Paris. Black flags were hung from the
steeples, and Danton and his allies skilfully used the fear inspired
by the foreign enemy to add to the general hatred of the Royalists.

"We Republicans," he said in the rostrum of the Assembly, "are
exposed to two parties, that of the enemy without, that of the
Royalists within. There is a Royalist directory which sits secretly
at Paris and corresponds with the Prussian army. To frustrate it
we must terrify the Royalists."

The Assembly decreed death against all who directly or indirectly
refused to execute or hindered the orders given by the executive
power. Rumours of conspiracy agitated Paris and struck alarm into
people's minds, while those who had friends within the prison walls
became more and more alarmed for their safety.

On the 28th of August orders were issued that all the inhabitants
of Paris were to stay in their houses in order that a visit might
be made by the delegates of the Commune to search for arms, of which
Danton had declared there were eighty thousand hidden in Paris, and
to search for suspected persons. As soon as the order was issued,
Harry and Victor went to their lodgings, and telling their landlords
that they had obtained work at the other end of town, paid their
rent and left the city, and for the next two days slept in the
woods.

They passed most of their time discussing projects for enabling
their friends to escape, for from the stringency of the steps taken,
and the violence of the Commune, they could no longer indulge in
the hopes that in a short time the prisoners against whom no serious
charge could be brought, would be released. At the same time they
could hardly persuade themselves that even such men as those who
now held the supreme power in their hands, could intend to take
extreme measures against so vast a number of prisoners as were now
in custody.

Victor and Harry knew that their friends had at first been taken to
the prison of Bicetre, but whether they were still confined there
they were of course ignorant. Still there was no reason to suppose
that they had been transferred to any of the other jails.

The Bicetre was, they had discovered, so strongly guarded that
neither force nor stratagem seemed available. The jailers were the
creatures of Danton and Robespierre, and any attempt to bribe them
would have been dangerous in the extreme. Victor proposed that,
as he as well as Harry wa