ssacre; but I
had already dispatched an express to the officer in command at the
Tuileries, to come and save the arms and ammunition deposited at the
Hotel de Ville; and we expected the reinforcement from minute to minute.
While my eyes turned, in this fever of life and death, towards the
quarter from which the troops were to come, a sudden shout from the
multitude made me look round; a fellow, perhaps one of the _funambules_
of the Fauxbourg theatres, was climbing up to the belfry by a rope, with
the agility of a monkey. His purpose was seen by us at once, and seen
with fresh alarm; for, if he had been able to reach the great bell, the
terrible 'tocsin' would have aroused the country for ten leagues round,
and have poured a hundred thousand armed peasantry into Paris. I pointed
him out to the guard, and they fired a volley at him as he swung above
their heads. They missed him, the populace shouted, and the fellow,
taking off his cap and waving it in triumph, still climbed on. I next
fired both my pistols at him; which was the luckier of the two I cannot
tell, but I saw him stagger just as he planted his foot on the
battlement; he was evidently hit, and a general yell from the multitude
told that they saw it too; he made a convulsive spring to secure
himself, fell back, lost his hold, and plunged headlong from a height of
a hundred and fifty feet to the ground! Another tried the same
adventure, and with the same fate; three in succession were shot; but
enthusiasm or madness gave them courage, and at length half a dozen
making the attempt together, the belfry was reached, and the tocsin was
rung. Its effect _was_ terrible. The multitude seemed to be inspired
with a new spirit of rage as they heard its clang. Every bell in Paris
soon began to clang in succession. The din was deafening; the populace
seemed to become more daring and desperate every moment; all was uproar.
I could soon see the effect of the tocsin in the new crowds which
recruited our assailants from all sides. Their fire became heavier;
still, in the spirit of men fighting for their lives, we kept them at
bay till the last cartridge was in our muskets. But, at the moment of
despair, we saw the distant approach of the reinforcement from the
Tuileries; and breathed for an instant. Yet, judge of our astonishment,
when it had no sooner entered the crowd, than, instead of driving the
wretches before them, we saw the soldiers scatter, mix, and actually
fraternize