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CAUGHT AT LAST; OR, THE FELON'S…

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CAUGHT AT LAST; OR, THE FELON'S BRAND. [ALL BIGHTS BESERVNDj CHAPTER XI. ALIVE OR DEAD? ty June, 1848, disorders took place in Paris streets. Desperate men raised barricades, and fought for Socialism and lie ence. The miserable, the hungry, the jigged, and the vile—all who had everything to gain, Md nothing but their wretched lives to lose—joined the insurrection. Fearful stories are told of that Distracted time. Men and women, born of the nation which, by its own account, always marches in the van of civilisation and of progress abnegated humanity, Md became, in the wild delirium of the season, brutes. Shuddering Europe heard of captive youths belonging to the Garde Mobile, faint and wounded we'1-nigh note death, dragged behind barricades and siowly" roasted alive'; of National Guards, bleeding aad exhausted from sword or bullet wounds, backed to pieces with cruel saws and rusty iron hoops of he!p- jtCSS infants, spitted shrieking upon bayonets, and toesed with fiendish glee from one to another of the frantic horde. Ghastly stories these let us hope they were untrue. Hard by a foreign bank upon the Goldsmith's Quay, stretching across the streets from the houses to the river, one of the most for(-iiidable, barriers was raised. Some overturned carts and omnibuses, with furniture taken from adjoining houses, had been built m with paving stones, rammed tight with gas-drenched Mrth. The upper windows of the houses behind the barricade were lined with men in Mouses, the pre- cision of whose lire was attested by the numbers who had already fallen in this assault. In the rear of the barrier stood a crowd of defenders, livid and S&vage faces mostly, biackened w'ith smoke and powder, many bleeding from wounds. From time to time a boy would be hoisted up, to peep over th" barricade, and report the movemen's taking place among the troops in front. "More cavalry! Look o-tt, up there!" cried the Scout to these in the windows. Pick off the horses of the leading then the pf&cers! cried a man with a bttshy, black beard, « They'11 stop the way, and you can deat with the rest a.t leisure. "Bravo, Nap!" exclaimed one of his companions, etapping the speaker on the shou!der. Good advice, that, my boy. Do they teach the art of war, too, down tliere, among the other little accomp'ishments ? Pestilence! 'tis a better boarding-school than I thought." Silence, Poing growled the other. Wilt never hold that chattering tongue of thine ?" He cast an uneasy glance around, ''o see if his comrade's banter had been overheard, then continued: Dost not know there are many traitors who would cast us over those Stones this moment to the aristocrats, if they guessed i)tt the reward ? A still tongue man, is safest for the present." The clattering hoofs of the charging cavalry inter- )'Upted further exhortation, as a volley from the dragoon's carbines spattered against the stones of ths Barricades, or sang harmlessly over the heads of its defenders. The biouses in the windows returned the Sre with the effect Nap had foreseen. In less than a minute a phinging and confused heap of kicking Worses and dying men effectually barred their com- edos' advance. The insurgents behind the barricade scaled the heap, and fired with comparative impunity into the struggling mass. After much useless effort, the omcer in command ordered the retreat to be rounded, and the bamed cavalry drew off. "Fools!" sneered Nap. "They might as well Charge a stone wall. Up, boy, and see what will be their next game." The agile lad obeyed. I can't make them out Row," be said, doubtfutty. A lot of soldiers are Standing round a mounted omcer, who seems speak- ing to them. Hark!" Down the street come the sound of cheers, as of welcome, with a cry of Hurrah for the Genera)!" They are gathering in columns for another charge," said the boy. "infantry now. The column to the right is headed by an old man with white hair, ]ttt a grey blouse, wearing the cross and several medals upon his breast." A savage exclamation broke from the man called Na.p, and he hastily clambered up beside the boy. It is he he muttered, between his clenched teeth. "F<M!<e/ Where shall I go? He will shoot me like a dog!" "Look out!" cried the boy, shrilly. "Guns' They are unlimbering. I see the port-fires. Ah, me?trs ("Alas! I die!") Shot by a rifle-bullet through the brain,.the lad feL quivering in his comrades' midst. Nap sprang from the barricade. They are coming They are coming and lte is with them he yctied. Save himself who can! Fly Sy Poing caught him by the arm. "Art mad, fool?" he whispered, fiercely. Stand fast' We have beaten hack the others—why not these ? Look out a.bove there," he shouted to the blouses. Give them pepper, my braves And thou," turning to Nap, "if thou stirrest, I drive my knife into thy breast!" Shaking in every limb, his hands trembling so that )ie could scarcely grasp his musket, the son awaited the attack led by the father. On came the regulars with firm and steady step, the drums beating the charge. When within about a, hun- dred'yards of the barricade, a halt was called and the troops drew off beneath the shelter of the bouses. All this time the blouses were loading and firing with terrible effect. Numbers of the regulars fell, but their comrades were not discouraged. This time the fate of the barricade was sealed. The troops had hardly cleared the road when the bugle rang out the signal. With a roar as of a dozen cataracts, the guns opened upon the barri- cade. The iron hail soon rendered it passabie- Its fragments were driven back upon its defenders, Crushing many who had drawn close to the hou-.e- walls, to avoid the storm of grape and that showered around. A breach was effected, and through it poured the furious assailants, in a long; restless, living tide. Little mercy was shown, Scant quarter was given. Shot, brained, stabbed, Slaughtered in any manner that was quickest, ieii the miserable defenders. Foremost among the assailants was honest Jean Parlandet, the brave old workman with the cross of honour and the medals on his breast. Though more than seventy, his nervous, ptajw!u't sinews did that. das the work of a man in his

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CAUGHT AT LAST; OR, THE FELON'S…

CAUGHT AT LAST; OR, THE FELON'S…