My heart beat quick; but my new friend of the Garde du Corps seemed to be quite 'au fait' in the management of such affairs, by the admirable tact and decision he displayed. Calling lustily for the gensd'armes, he suddenly grasped half-a-dozen of the foremost men in succession, and rapidly--for he was a powerful fellow, threw them in a heap over the wounded man, thus increasing the tumult, the rage, and the confusion. Then seizing me by the hand, he said hurriedly, "Monsieur will pardon me--but come this way, or you will be torn to pieces!" and half leading, half dragging me, he conveyed me down a dark and narrow street. "Nom d'un Pape! I could not see a brother of the epaulette maltreated by these rascally citizens," he continued, laughing heartily at the rage and confusion of the bourgeois. "Ha! ha! follow me! I know how to escape. There are deuced few outlets, holes or corners, byeways or sallyports in Paris, that I don't know. Ah corboeuf! didn't they all tumble delightfully over like so many ninepins? Ha! ha! but hark! they follow us. Hasten with me, Monsieur Officier, and remember that a brawl in this neighbourhood may prove infinitely more dangerous to you than to me." I was too well aware of that to resist his guidance and advice; and having no ambition to suffer, like St. Stephen, at the hands of a mob, or (escaping that) to figure next morning before the correctional police, and in the evening endure a reprimand from Wellington, I fairly turned, and, accompanying my guide, ran at full speed along the dark alley, laughing heartily at the affair. Gathering like a snowball, as it rolled along, the multitude came on, puffing and shouting, and swearing and yelling behind us. "This way," cried my guide, who laughed uproariously, and seemed one of the merriest fellows imaginable; "this way--Vive la joie! we are all right now!" "Where are you leading me, in the name of all that is miraculous?" I exclaimed, as my companion, laying violent hands upon my sash, almost dragged me down a flight of steps, which apparently led into the bowels of the earth. The appearance of the vast depth to which they descended being increased by a few hazy oil lamps that twinkled at the bottom. "Excuse me, Monsieur," said I; "what the mischief--'t is a strange den this! I will go no further!" "Courage, mon brave! courage! why we have only descended about a hundred steps or so;" replied the Frenchman, still continuing to descend. "You will find this an old and odd place too; but if you would escape an enraged rabble, the claws of the police, the maison de force, the prison, and the devil, follow me, and trust to my honour. I am Antoine St. Florian, Captain of the Garde du Corps, and late of the 23rd Grenadiers under the Emperor. You are safe--I know every nook in this subterranean world, for I have found a shelter in its ample womb many a time before to-night."