ne, and they were the first to follow them. One cart conveyed
the twenty-one bodies away, and they were thrown into one pit, by the
side of the grave of Louis XVI.

[Illustration: EXECUTION OF THE GIRONDISTS.]

They committed many errors. Few minds could discern distinctly the
path of truth and duty through the clouds and vapors of those stormy
times. But they were most sincerely devoted to the liberties of
France. They overthrew the monarchy, and established the Republic.
They died because they refused to open those sluice-ways of blood
which the people demanded. A few of the Girondists had made their
escape. Petion, Buzot, Barbaroux, and Gaudet wandered in disguise,
and hid themselves in the caves of wild and unfrequented mountains. La
Fayette, who was one of the most noble and illustrious apostles of
this creed, was saved from the guillotine by weary years of
imprisonment in the dungeons of Olmutz. Madame Roland lingered in her
cell, striving to maintain serenity, while her soul was tortured with
the tidings of carnage and woe which every morning's dawn brought to
her ears.

The Jacobins were now more and more clamorous for blood. They strove
to tear La Fayette from his dungeon, that they might triumph in his
death. They pursued, with implacable vigilance, the Girondists who had
escaped from their fury. They trained blood-hounds to scent them out
in their wild retreats, where they were suffering, from cold and
starvation, all that human nature can possibly endure. For a time,
five of them lived together in a cavern, thirty feet in depth. This
cavern had a secret communication with the cellar of a house. Their
generous hostess, periling her own life for them, daily supplied them
with food. She could furnish them only with the most scanty fare, lest
she should be betrayed by the purchase of provisions necessary for so
many mouths. It was mid-winter. No fire warmed them in their damp and
gloomy vault, and this living burial must have been worse than death.
The search became so rigid that it was necessary for them to disperse.
One directed his steps toward the Pyrenees. He was arrested and
executed. Three toiled along by night, through cold, and snow, and
rain, the keen wind piercing their tattered garments, till their
sufferings made them reckless of life. They were arrested, and found,
in the blade of the guillotine, a refuge from their woes. At last all
were taken and executed but Petion and Buzot. Their fate is in