After some time, how long no one could reckon, so completely did emotion eclipse thought amongst the witnesses of this marvellous scene, a glimmer of light appeared in the barricade of the soldiers; it was probably a lantern which was being brought or taken away. By the flash they again saw Dussoubs, he was close to the barricade, he had almost reached it, he was walking towards it with his arms stretched out like Christ. Suddenly the word of command, "Fire!" was heard. A fusillade burst forth. They had fired upon Dussoubs when he was at the muzzles of their guns. Dussoubs fell. Then he raised himself and cried, "Long live the Republic!" Another bullet struck him, he fell again. Then they saw him raise himself once more, and heard him shout in a loud voice, "I die with the Republic." These were his last words. In this manner died Denis Dussoubs. It was not vainly that he had said to his brother, "Your sash will be there." He was anxious that this sash should do its duty. He determined in the depths of his great soul that this sash should triumph either through the law or through death. That is to say, in the first case it would save Right, in the second save Honor. Dying, he could say, "I have succeeded." Of the two possible triumphs of which he had dreamed, the gloomy triumph was not the less splendid. The insurgent of the Elysée thought that he had killed a Representative of the People, and boasted of it. The sole journal published by the _coup d'état_ under these different titles _Patrie_, _Univers_, _Moniteur_, _Parisien_, etc., announced on the next day, Friday, the 5th, "that the ex-Representative Dussoubs (Gaston) had been killed at the barricade of the Rue Neuve Saint Eustache, and that he bore 'a red flag in his hand.'" CHAPTER IV. WHAT WAS DONE DURING THE NIGHT--THE PASSAGE DU SAUMON When those on the barricade of the Petit Carreau saw Dussoubs fall, so gloriously for his friends, so shamefully for his murderers, a moment of stupor ensued. Was it possible? Did they really see this before them? Such a crime committed by our soldiers? Horror filled every soul. This moment of surprise did not last long. "Long live the Republic!" shouted the barricade with one voice, and it replied to the ambuscade by a formidable fire. The conflict began. A mad conflict on the part of the _coup d'état_, a struggle of despair on the side of the Republic. On the side of the soldiers an appalling and cold blooded resolution, a passive and ferocious obedience, numbers, good arms, absolute chiefs, pouches filled with cartridges. On the side of the People no ammunition, disorder, weariness, exhaustion, no discipline, indignation serving for a leader.