Complete Works of Emile Zola (88 page)

The struggle continued thus for nearly half an hour, soldiers and rioters exchanging bullets at distant intervals. There were awful silences of two or three minutes; then came a shot, a cry, followed by another silence which was still more oppressive than the previous one. The soldiers’ red trousers made capital targets for the workmen, who were thus able to kill a great many men. As for themselves they were better sheltered; nevertheless, as soon as ever a shot was fired from a window, that window was at once riddled with bullets. The rioters, who had gone up to the tops of the houses, and from there cast down showers of stones, suffered more. Men were several times seen to topple over from the roofs and come down on the pavement in a co-adjulated mass, picked off like sparrows.

The fighting might have gone on in this manner until the evening. This skirmishing sort of warfare was in reality, much more murderous than a bold, decisive attack would have been, and some thirty corpses were already weltering in pools of blood on the ground.

Marius had descended into the street at the first shot. Not having been able to prevent the struggle, he wished at least to assist those who were fighting. By his care, an ambulance was established in a shop on the square, and he displayed great activity in seeing that the wounded were carried there. At one moment as he was passing behind the barricade, a man fell beside him mortally struck. He leant over him, and was astonished to find it was Charles Blétry, the dishonest clerk of the firm of Daste and Degans. The unfortunate fellow recognised him also, and seeing the young man hastening to attend to him, he said with a faint smile:

“It’s useless, Monsieur Marius, it’s all over, I am going to die. Ah! Heaven is good indeed to have sent you to me!”

He continued with an effort, his fingers already becoming rigid:

“I swear to you I never discharged my gun. I was led astray by friends, I had to do as others did. Listen, I want you to render me a service. Promise me you will perform my last wish.”

Blétry raised himself, painfully, and unfastened a belt round his waist. While handing it to Marius, he was seized with a convulsion, and as the belt fell to the ground a few pieces of money came out of it. As soon as the former clerk was in a condition to speak, he said:

“That belt contains a hundred francs. Kindly hand it to Messrs. Daste and Degans, and tell them it is not my fault if I have not been able to reimburse them all the money I turned to such bad account.”

And as Marius looked at him in astonishment, he murmured in a voice that was dying away:

“You don’t know. They let me off two years. I have now been out of prison for three years, and during that time have been working as a navvy. On the hundred and thirty francs I have been earning each month, I have made a point of handing a hundred, regularly, to my former employers. I have not been able to refund more than three thousand and a few hundred francs, but I had hopes of earning more later on, and I had intended devoting all my life to the repayment of my debt. Death has come too soon.”

The words were distorted in his throat. He had a short death struggle, and expired, his features convulsed and his limbs rigid.

Marius had felt a sort of respect in presence of this terrible death. The wretched being who was lying there, seemed so full of grief and remorse. He picked up the belt and was going away with it, when he heard a dreadful noise in the direction of the Rues de la Lime d’Or and Vieille Monnaie. All at once he saw the soldiers and National Guards advance from those streets and invade the square.

During the few minutes Marius had spent with Blétry serious events had been occurring. While the firing continued at the barricade in the Grande Rue, two other bodies of troops had attacked the rioters by the narrow thoroughfares in the old town.

A column came to lay siege to the Place aux Œufs by the Rue Requis Novis, but on reaching the Rue Pierre qui Rage, and perceiving the barricade the rioters had erected there, it halted. A police commissary, who was at the head, then advanced, and exhorted the workmen to return peacefully to their occupations. The only answer they gave was that the people had been provoked; and, almost at the same moment, he had his arm broken with a bullet. He had barely time to withdraw, when firing became general, and was accompanied by an avalanche of stones and tiles falling on the soldiers’ heads. There was a noise like the rumbling sound of thunder, and the street became full of smoke. The soldiers in surprise, threw themselves on either side, along the houses; and a skirmishing warfare commenced as in the Grande Rue. These encounters at cross roads are terrible, for a few men are often able to keep an army at bay.

While firing was thus proceeding at two points, another column, destined to be more fortunate, advanced towards the barricade, blocking up the Grande Rue, from the side of the Law Courts. This column which had come from the Hôtel de Ville, did not approach very near. As soon as one of the sentinels had fired, it withdrew; and seeing it was impossible to carry the entrenchment without artillery, decided on turning the position.

It, therefore, entered the Rue Belzunce, where it found some thirty rioters who fired and then ran away, some into the Rue des Mar- quises, the others into the Rues Sainte Marthe, Sainte Barbe and Moulin d’Huile. The soldiers followed them at double quick time, receiving a few shots to which they answered, and searching, moreover, two or three houses where they arrested a certain number of people; but they did not dare enter the Rue des Marquises, which would have led them straight to the Place aux Œufs. This street, which they supposed to be barricaded, seemed to them narrow and dangerous and they feared being crushed beneath an avalanche of objects cast from the roofs and windows.

The column continued turning the stronghold. On reaching the Place Sainte Martin, it divided: one part going into the Rue de la Lune d’Or and the other into the Rue de la Vieille Monnaie. The idea was to issue in a body on the Place aux Œufs, where as a matter of fact, two of the detachments arrived almost simultaneously.

The soldiers rushed on to the barricades, which on this side had been less solidly built, and the rioters, surprised at this irresistible charge, fled in disorder, seeking refuge in the houses. There they stopped the column, for a few moments, by opening a well-fed fire upon it from the windows. But this fire soon slackened, and the soldiers passing beneath the bullets at the double, found themselves in the centre of the Place aux Œufs. When Marius perceived the uniforms of the conquerors, he understood his brother would be lost if he were not able to place him beyond danger of arrest. He ran to the barricade in the Grande Rue, where Philippe, with his back turned to the square, had been so busy with the defence on that side, that he had not perceived the victory of the military in the rear. Marius soon found him, but as the two brothers set out towards the house where Fine and Joseph were, they saw that they would not have time to reach the door, so they rushed in at another one, which was opposite, and barricaded the entrance in despair, not daring to refer to their mutual alarm at being obliged to abandon the young woman and child.

A frightful tumult reigned on the square. As soon as the rioters saw the soldiers and National Guard advancing to secure the position, they imitated Philippe and Marius and fled for refuge into the adjoining houses. The columns attacking the barricades in the Grande Rue, and the Rue Requis Novis, were at first astounded to see the firing cease. Then, guessing what was taking place, they removed the abandoned obstructions and advanced to join the conquerors. The square was thus full of troops, preparing to besiege the houses amidst a most deafening din. It was at that moment that the man watching over the three prisoners in the little shop, fled. Mathéus slipped into the crowd and disappeared; whilst M. Martelly and Abbé Chastanier, sad and motionless, remained standing on the threshold, in the expectation of terrible reprisals; and, occasionally, the inquisitive head of M. Girousse showed itself at the window, which he had not left since the commencement of the action.

CHAPTER XIX

IN WHICH MATHÉUS, AT LAST, GETS JOSEPH IN HIS ARMS

SAUVAIRE had lost sight of M. de Cazalis on entering the stronghold, and was furious at not being able to discover where he could have got to, after having had the trouble of watching him, for nearly an hour, under a doorway. The worthy man continued to ignore his rank of captain. He had one fixed idea, that of coming to the assistance of the brother of his friend Marius. He turned about on the square, anxious and embarrassed, when it all at once occurred to him that Philippe must be hidden in Fine’s old abode. He looked at the house and caught sight of the head of M. de Girousse.

“Eh! I say, you, up there!” he shouted to the old Count, “come down quick and open the door!”

M. de Girousse who was extremely anxious about Philippe, decided to go down, knowing that the two brothers had taken refuge in the house opposite, and hoping to be of some help to them, but when he was once below in the corridor, he found himself in the presence of the rioters, who had fastened the bolts, and would not allow him to go out.

He succeeded, however, with some trouble, in making them set the door ajar, and after pushing him out, they again closed it. Sauvaire and M. de Girousse found themselves face to face.

“Eh! the deuce!” exclaimed the ex-master-stevedore, “you should have left the door open. I am going to have you arrested.”

The nobleman examined the captain with curiosity.

“You are going to have me arrested,” he said; “Well! arrest me yourself, and kindly conduct me to the persons who are over there.”

He pointed to M. Martelly and Abbé Chastanier. Sauvaire accompanied him, and apologized, when he heard he had put his hand on a Count and wealthy landlord.

“It only required transportation,” said M. de Girousse laughing, “for my day to be complete!”

He then held a whispered conversation with the shipowner, and explained to him the position.

“We saw nothing of all that,” said M. Martelly, “they shut us up in that shop, in the company of an individual who looked like a regular villain. Do you say Philippe and Marius are hidden in that house there?”

“Yes, and I am very much afraid they have been arrested, but the worst of it is, that I have left Marius’ wife and Philippe’s child in that other house.”

This news completed making the ship-owner quite sad. Abbé Chastanier, however, pointed out that Fine and Joseph were not running any very great danger: if the house were sacked, there would always be time to intervene, but they must think above all of the two brothers, and endeavour to assist them to escape. The misfortune was, that it seemed almost impossible to do anything to help them.

In the meanwhile the troops who had invaded the rioters’ stronghold were not inactive. A few shots were still being fired from windows, here and there, and this had to be put a stop to. So the order was given to take, by assault, all the houses that were closed, and on the roofs of which the insurgents were discharging their last cartridges. A few sappers were sent forward and these began hacking at the doors with their axes.

Sauvaire was in despair. He wished to lead the soldiers away from the dwelling where he supposed Philippe was hidden, but could see no way of doing so. He got his men together, posted them on the opposite side of the square, and set them searching other buildings. But unfortunately a shot was fired from the very house he wished to protect. A lieutenant was wounded, and all the soldiers rushed towards the door.

“The idiots!” murmured Sauvaire, “what need had they to wound that man! Now my young friend’s affair is settled.”

He approached, wishing at least to be one of the first to enter the place.

While these events were occurring, Mathéus and M. de Cazalis were engaged in animated conversation in a corner of the square. The spy, with his piercing eyes, had perceived his master in the midst of a crowd as soon as he got out of the shop. When he had taken him aside, he said, in a jeering tone:

“Well! don’t you congratulate me? I have been doing a tremendous lot of work.”

“I didn’t see you on the barricade,” answered the ex-deputy.

“Of course! those simpletons took the precaution of placing me beyond danger of the bullets, by shutting me up in a shop, and I feel very thankful to them for doing so. Come, victory is on our side.”

“Where did you take the child to?”

“Eh! you’re in too great a hurry. I’ll hand you the child presently. Look! he is there, in that house, where they are bursting open the door.”

Mathéus then explained to M. de Cazalis what he had done, and what there still remained to do. He was certain of success.

“However,” he added, “we must act promptly. They imprisoned with me, I was unable to understand why, two friends of the Cayols. Look! they’re still standing on the threshold of our common gaol. I am afraid their presence will be to our disadvantage.”

M. de Cazalis looked, and recognised M. Martelly and Abbé Chastanier. He did not see M. de Girousse, who was turning his back to him.

“Bah!” he murmured, “they’re not troubling about us. To work, Mathéus! I’ll double the promised reward if you succeed.”

The sappers had just given the first strokes of the axe, which were producing dull thuds on the door.

“And do you know where that villain Philippe has got to?” inquired M. de Cazalis.

“I hope he’s been arrested,” answered Mathéus, “in any case he will be caught if he has taken refuge in the house. Have no anxiety, his affair is settled, he’ll get at least ten years’ transportation.”

“I’d sooner finish with him here. I had him at the end of my gun. Aren’t you afraid that if he be in the house, he will interfere with your plans?”

“Bah! he’s hidden at the bottom of some cupboard. Look out! the door is giving way. Don’t meddle with anything, watch me act, if it amuses you, and as soon as I have the child, follow me quickly. We’ll settle our account later on.”

Mathéus left his master in the centre of the square and mixed with the soldiers. The axes of the sappers had cut through the woodwork of the door, and although the hinges and lock still held good, it was on the point of being broken down. Sauvaire had followed this performance with anxiety. He had counted on gathering his own men together, and entering the house first. Just as the door began to give way, he felt a hand on his arm, and turning round, recognised his old manager Cadet, Fine’s brother. The young man dragged him quickly aside, and in a choking voice asked: