The next day many of these fugitives were marched along the boulevards, their hands tied behind their backs, and the word _Lâche_ (coward) printed in large letters between their shoulders. Yet still crowds of men in uniform and ladies fashionably dressed crowded the cafés, laughing and full of mirth. As the bombardment grew, it became the fashion to gather at the Trocadero, and watch the Prussian shells exploding in mid-air. The village folk who had lived within the lines of investment were brought inside the ramparts, and formed a class of _bouches inutiles_, though some of the men were employed to cut down trees and build barricades. The Palace of St. Cloud was burnt down about this time--some said by the French themselves, either by accident or design. A post by balloon and by carrier-pigeons had been introduced--_par ballon monté_--by which letters were sent away, but could not be received. [Illustration: THE BALLOON POST USED DURING THE SIEGE OF PARIS Letters could be sent away by this method, but not received.] In the middle of October Colonel Lloyd Lindsay arrived from England, bringing with him £20,000 as a gift from England to the sick and wounded. He came into Paris in the uniform of his rank. This did not prevent his being captured as a spy, and suffering some indignities at the hands of the great unwashed of Belleville. Some with questionable taste said, “The English send us money--all right!--but why do they not help us with men and guns?” Trochu, the Governor of Paris, was thought to be rather infirm of purpose; his sympathies were given more to Napoleon than to the Republic, and he evidently distrusted the fighting men within Paris. Indeed, there were many officers quite unfit for work, who used to lounge about the cafés, their hands buried in a warm muff and their noses red with the little glasses they had emptied. Many battalions of Federals elected their own officers, and some men were seen to be soliciting votes, bottle in hand. The National Guard, which was somewhat like our militia, was distinct from the French army, and contained many bad characters; they were apt to desert in time of danger. On the 21st of October there was a sortie against the Prussians on the west of Paris. They started at noon, as Mont Valérien fired three guns in quick succession. They took with them some new guns, called mitrailleuses, from which great things were expected. In the evening there came back a long procession of sixty-four carriages, all filled with wounded. Crowds of anxious mothers came clustering round, inquiring for friends. The people in the street formed two lines for the carriages to pass between; the men respectfully uncovered their heads.