A man who was leading a saddled horse joined them.  They did not know this man, nor whence this horse came.  It seemed as if the man offered his services to any one who wished to fly.  Representative Dulac ordered this man to be off.

In this manner they reached the guard-house of the Rue de Montrenil.  At their approach the sentry gave the alarm, and the soldiers came out of the guard-house in disorder.

Schoelcher, calm, impassive, in ruffles and a white tie, clothed, as usual, in black, buttoned to the neck in his tight frock coat, with the intrepid and brotherly air of a Quaker, walked straight up to them.

“Comrades,” he said to them, “we are the Representatives of the People, and come in the name of the people to demand your arms for the defence of the Constitution and of the Laws!”

The post allowed itself to be disarmed.  The sergeant alone made any show of resistance, but they said to him, “You are alone,” and he yielded.  The Representatives distributed the guns and the cartridges to the resolute band which surrounded them.

Some soldiers exclaimed, “Why do you take away our muskets!  We would fight for you and with you!”

The Representatives consulted whether they should accept this offer.  Schoelcher was inclined to do so.  But one of them remarked that some Mobile Guards had made the same overtures to the insurgents of June, and had turned against the Insurrection the arms which the Insurrection had left them.

The muskets therefore were not restored.

The disarming having been accomplished, the muskets were counted; there were fifteen of them.

“We are a hundred and fifty,” said Cournet, “we have not enough muskets.”

“Well, then,” said Schoelcher, “where is there a post?”

“At the Lenoir Market.”

“Let us disarm it.”

With Schoelcher at their head and escorted by fifteen armed men the Representatives proceeded to the Lenoir Market.  The post of the Lenoir Market allowed themselves to be disarmed even more willingly than the post in the Rue de Montreuil.  The soldiers turned themselves round so that the cartridges might be taken from their pouches.

The muskets were immediately loaded.

“Now,” exclaimed De Flotte, “we have thirty guns, let us look for a street corner, and raise a barricade.”

There were at that time about two hundred combatants.

They went up the Rue de Montreuil.

After some fifty steps Schoelcher said, “Where are we going?  We are turning our backs on the Bastille.  We are turning our backs upon the conflict.”

They returned towards the Faubourg.

They shouted, “To arms!” They Where answered by “Long live our Representatives!” But only a few young men joined them.  It was evident that the breeze of insurrection was not blowing.

“Never mind,” said De Flotte, “let us begin the battle.  Let us achieve the glory of being the first killed.”