was
a young man, scarcely sixteen years of age, now white with anger.
He leaped from his charger, placed his back against the shaft of the
carriage, making a rampart of his horse, drew his pistols from their
holsters and fastened them to his belt, and began to fight with the back
sword, like a man accustomed to the handling of his weapon.

During ten minutes he alone kept the crowd at bay; at last Comminges
appeared, pushing Broussel before him.

"Let us break the carriage!" cried the people.

"In the king's name!" cried Comminges.

"The first who advances is a dead man!" cried Raoul, for it was in
fact he, who, feeling himself pressed and almost crushed by a gigantic
citizen, pricked him with the point of his sword and sent him howling
back.

Comminges, so to speak, threw Broussel into the carriage and sprang in
after him. At this moment a shot was fired and a ball passed through
the hat of Comminges and broke the arm of one of the guards. Comminges
looked up and saw amidst the smoke the threatening face of Louvieres
appearing at the window of the second floor.

"Very well, sir," said Comminges, "you shall hear of this anon."

"And you of me, sir," said Louvieres; "and we shall see then who can
speak the loudest."

Friquet and Nanette continued to shout; the cries, the noise of the
shot and the intoxicating smell of powder produced their usual maddening
effects.

"Down with the officer! down with him!" was the cry.

"One step nearer," said Comminges, putting down the sashes, that the
interior of the carriage might be well seen, and placing his sword on
his prisoner's breast, "one step nearer, and I kill the prisoner; my
orders were to carry him off alive or dead. I will take him dead, that's
all."

A terrible cry was heard, and the wife and daughters of Broussel held
up their hands in supplication to the people; the latter knew that this
officer, who was so pale, but who appeared so determined, would keep his
word; they continued to threaten, but they began to disperse.

"Drive to the palace," said Comminges to the coachman, who was by then
more dead than alive.

The man whipped his animals, which cleared a way through the crowd;
but on arriving on the Quai they were obliged to stop; the carriage was
upset, the horses carried off, stifled, mangled by the crowd. Raoul,
on foot, for he had not time to mount his horse again, tired, like the
guards, of distributing blows with the flat of his sword, had re