uchette was
seated turned and called to her behind his hand,--

"Keep your seat, mademoiselle! It's all right!"

He was terrified lest his carriage should follow the fate of his
neighbor's. But the young men merely compelled him to whip up and keep
the lines closed, and with this moving barricade they trotted along
secure from present assault. Fouchette could have touched the nearest
student. She was so frightened that the coachman's admonition was
quite unnecessary. She could not have stirred.

"Jean!" said the hatless man to the other, who was so close, "you saw
Lerouge there?"

"See him! I was near enough to punch him!"

"Did you----"

"Ah!" There was a quaver in his voice.

"I understand, my friend."

"But I can't understand Lerouge," said the young man called Jean.
"Don't be afraid, mademoiselle," he added, speaking to Fouchette
reassuringly. "Our friends the agents----"

"Oh, there they come, monsieur!" she cried.

"Pardieu!" exclaimed the hatless. "We're caught!"

A big van loaded with straw blocked the way. Behind it skulked a whole
platoon of blue uniforms. The fugitives hesitated for a second or
two.

"Over with it!" shouted the hatless young man, at the same moment
appropriating a deserted headpiece.

"Down with the agents!"

A dozen stalwart young men seized the big wheels. The top-heavy load
wavered an instant, then went over with a simultaneous swish and a
yell.

The latter came from the police agents, now half buried in the straw.

A second squadron of cavalry, Garde de Paris, drawn up near by,
witnessed this incident and smiled. These little pleasantries amuse
all good Parisians.

Safety now lay in separation. Jean kept on towards the Rue Royale; his
friends broke off, scattering towards the Rue de Rivoli.

"Que diable!" he muttered.

He stopped and looked hastily about him.

"Well, devil take her anyhow,--she's gone. And I'm here."

He saw himself, with many others out of the line of blocked vehicles,
hemmed in by agents, Gardes de Paris, and cuirassiers to the right and
left, now driven into the Rue Royale as stray animals into a pound.

Double lines of police agents supported by infantry and cavalry held
both ends of this short street; here, where it opened into the Place
de la Concorde and there where it led at the Madeleine into the grand
boulevards.

The roar of the mob came down upon him from the Madeleine, where the
rioters had forced the defensive line from time t