But what of provisions? The twenty-fifth night of the siege—a dark,
wet night—the police fancied they discerned mysterious objects flying
far over their heads on to the roof of Fort Chabrol. Much speculation,
infinite straining of eyes and stretching of ears, and suddenly a paper
parcel, falling from above, struck a Municipal Guard. Shock of the Guard.
The cry: “It is a bomb!” But it was only a ham—a fine, excellent ham. And
a few minutes later the Guards and police were searching the house from
which it had been thrown and examining numbers of other paper parcels
(carefully tied up) that contained joints of meat, “groceries,” sugared
cakes, fruit and fresh salads; all of which luxuries were obviously
intended for the rebels over the way. But where were Guérin’s friends
and accomplices? Not a soul in the house; so said a policeman: “Try the
roof.” And there, on the roof, more paper parcels ready to be thrown
across to the Fort; and hiding behind the chimney-pots, four or five men.
“Arrest them,” cried an officer. And then, amidst the chimney-pots, much
dodging and slipping and catching as in the games of “hide-and-seek” and
“touch wood”; whilst over the way on _his_ roof, Jules Guérin raced about
amidst _his_ chimney-pots, swinging a lantern and furiously shouting:
“Assassins. Assassins.” Thus, no sleep for the few remaining householders
that night. When his friends had been removed from the roof, and the
police reappeared in the street with their captives and laden with
parcels, Jules Guérin and his assistants discharged revolvers at the
heavy, dark clouds; and, next morning, hurled fenders, fire-irons and
a bedstead into the street. No one was struck: the prisoners were too
excited to take aim.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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