In exitu Israel : $b an historical novel, volume 2 (of 2)Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History
In exitu Israel : $b an historical novel, volume 2 (of 2)
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
France -- History -- Revolution, 1789-1799 -- Fiction
As De Launay was brought into the quadrangle, a thousand voices cried
for his blood. He quaked with fear, and drawing a dagger, attempted
to stab himself, but Cholat knocked the weapon from his grasp, not,
however, before De Launay had wounded himself in the hand.
Hullin and Cholat attempted to force their way through the crowd with
their prisoner between them. Hullin, an immense man, covered him with
his person. One of the crowd struck at the governor with a sabre, but
only cut his clothes. His captors, redoubling their efforts, succeeded
in forcing their way through the gates and reaching the street. In
the outer court they were joined by some others, animated by the same
desire of saving the governor from the rabble, and bringing him to
justice.
But the rush of the tide was against them; they were breasting waves of
life rolled towards the Bastille from every quarter of Paris, to which
the news spread like lightning that the citadel had fallen. Cholat was
torn from the side of De Launay. The great Hullin held his prisoner
as long as he could; finding that he could no longer protect him, he
put his own hat on the governor's head, and then the blows aimed at
the latter fell on his shoulders. But he wriggled his way through the
crowd, grasping the prisoner, till he had reached the arcade S. Jean.
There the mass of people swayed like a sea in a storm. Twice Hullin
fell, and twice he regained his feet. Cholat had fallen. He had eaten
nothing all day, and this last desperate effort to save a life had
been too much for him. He fainted, and was well-nigh trodden to death
beneath the feet of the crowd. Arné, who had taken his place beside the
governor, was swallowed up in a whirlpool of people.
In another moment, the head of De Launay was cut off and held up on a
pike, amidst the cheers of a brutal mob.
Madeleine, the corporal, thoroughly disguised, and by all supposed to
be a leader of the insurgents, Nicholas, and Gabrielle, whom Madeleine
had drawn with her, rushed to the steps of the new buildings. They
were splashed with blood, where the gunner had fallen. A man had run a
ladder against the clock-face, adorned with the chained automata, and
was up at it, hacking them and their fetters to pieces.
A tumultuous rabble besieged the door of the new chapel, supposing it
to be an entrance to the prisons, and would have burst it open, when
it was unlocked from within, and the old chaplain appeared, saying,
'The spot is sacred.' The mob fell back out of reverence; but presently
they observed the painting over the altar, which, by a refinement of
cruelty, represented S. Peter in chains between his keepers.
'Look,' roared one of the crowd; 'in the house of God, despotism
preaches to the captives that nothing but a miracle can deliver them
from their bonds.'
'Follow me,' cried another, armed with a hatchet, leaping in. Directly
the sanctuary was invaded, and the objectionable painting was removed;
but no other injury was done.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account