A gardener offered a hundred francs a year for it; and this scoundrel, who was wringing from the pitiful allowances of the prisoners the sum of a hundred and twenty thousand francs per annum, actually, for the sake of this paltry sum, deprived the poor wretches under his rule of the breath of air that made life supportable, of the sole gleam of life that intervened ’twixt them and the tomb. He well knew that he would never survive the capture of the Bastille—this man of iron, who had a Bastille in place of a heart. The Governor’s hundred and thirty-five barrels of powder were placed in a vault, situated in the centre of the fortress. The Bastille blown into the air would astound Paris in its ascent, and utterly destroy it in its stupendous fall. This he knew. When the prison was entered by the people, he clapped a torch to the touch-string. An Invalide seized his arms; two sous-officers crossed bayonets across his breast. He snatched a knife from his belt; they took it out of his hands. Then he demanded to be allowed to march out with the honors of war. This demand met with a positive refusal. At last, he would be satisfied were he allowed to depart with life alone. Two of the conquerors of the Bastille—Hullin and Elie—promised this in the name of all. He begged them to conduct him to the Hotel de Ville, where he had some shadow of authority. In the meantime, whilst the people were dashing themselves against the granite and the oak, and demolishing the two stone slaves that supported the clock, and breaking open the dungeons, with the intention of liberating the prisoners confined therein, Hullin and Elie took away De Launay, hiding him as much as possible by placing themselves in front of him. But when he arrived at the gates, the Governor was recognised. He had no hat; Hullin, fearless of consequences, gave him his own. Turning into the Rue St. Antoine, one who had taken part in the combat, recognised the prisoner. Farther on, came some who had not yet been engaged in the siege, and who, as a matter of course, were more bloodthirsty now that the danger was over. They wished to massacre the prisoners. De Launay remained alive through the protection of Hullin and Elie. Elie, less powerful than Hullin, was carried away by the crowd, amongst whom he was lost sight of. At the Arcade St. Jean, Hullin himself lost sight of De Launay, but by a superhuman effort he separated the crowd, and regained him. He dragged him to some adjacent steps, but in the effort fell. Twice did he again raise himself, only to fall again. At the third time, De Launay had disappeared. He looked for him on all sides, and at last recognised his head fixed on the extremity of a pike, and borne above the crowd. That head Hullin would have saved, had it been possible, at the risk of his own. During this time, the mob had released the prisoners in the Bastille. There were nine.