He was, as we have said, short and thin, and as, from where Morgan stood, it was impossible to distinguish the fine lines of his face, he looked insignificant, riding as he was behind Barras. "Ah," said Morgan, "that is something new!" "Yes," replied Garat. "See! there is General Barras and General Bonaparte; they are going to visit the outposts." "And which of the two is General Bonaparte?" asked Morgan. "The one on the black horse." "Why! he is a child who has not yet had time to grow," said Morgan, shrugging his shoulders. "Don't worry," said Cartaux, laying his hand on Morgan's shoulder, "he will grow." Barras, Bonaparte, and the rest of the staff continued to advance toward General Cartaux. "I will stay," said Morgan; "I should like to see this Bonaparte close at hand." "Then hide behind me, or, rather, behind Cartaux," said Garat; "you will have more room." Morgan drew back and the cavalcade approached the general. Barras drew rein before General Cartaux, but Bonaparte rode forward a few steps further, and remained alone in the middle of the quay. As he was only half a musket shot from the Sectionist ranks, several muskets were aimed at him; whereupon Morgan sprang forward, and, with one bound, placed himself between the Sectionists and the general's body. Then, with a wave of his hat, he commanded them to lower their muskets. Bonaparte rose in his stirrups, apparently unmindful of what had just taken place before him. The Pont-Neuf, the Rue de la Monnaie, the Quai de la Vallée, the Rue de Thionville, and the Quai Conti as far as the Institute, were thronged with armed men. As far as the eye could reach along the Quai de l'École, the Quai de la Mégisserie, and the Quai des Morfondus, muskets gleamed in the sun, thick as spears of wheat in a wheat field. "How many men do you think there are before you, citizen Cartaux," asked Bonaparte. "I could not say exactly," replied Cartaux. "In open country I could guess within a thousand men, but here in the streets and quays I cannot make even an approximate guess." "General, if you want to know the exact number," said Garat, "ask the citizen who has just prevented those men from firing upon you. He can tell you." Bonaparte glanced at the young man as if he now saw him for the first time. "Citizen," said he with a slight bow, "will you be good enough to give me the information I desire?" "I think, monsieur," said Morgan, taking care to address the Republican general in the manner used before the Revolution, "you asked the number of men opposed to you?" "Yes," replied Bonaparte, fixing a penetrating eye upon his interlocutor. "Before you, monsieur," resumed Morgan, "there are, visible or invisible, some thirty or thirty-two thousand men; ten thousand men in the direction of the Rue Saint-Roch; ten thousand between the Place des Filles de Saint-Thomas and the Barrière des Sergents. In the neighborhood of fifty-six thousand, as you see." "Is that all?" asked Bonaparte.