“To resist was evidently hopeless, or only to provoke massacre; but I had already dispatched an express to the officer in command at the Tuileries, to come and save the arms and ammunition deposited at the Hotel de Ville; and we expected the reinforcement from minute to minute.  While my eyes turned, in this fever of life and death, towards the quarter from which the troops were to come, a sudden shout from the multitude made me look round; a fellow, perhaps one of the funambules of the Fauxbourg theatres, was climbing up to the belfry by a rope, with the agility of a monkey.  His purpose was seen by us at once, and seen with fresh alarm; for, if he had been able to reach the great bell, the terrible ‘tocsin’ would have aroused the country for ten leagues round, and have poured a hundred thousand armed peasantry into Paris.  I pointed him out to the guard, and they fired a volley at him as he swung above their heads.  They missed him, the populace shouted, and the fellow, taking off his cap and waving it in triumph, still climbed on.  I next fired both my pistols at him; which was the luckier of the two I cannot tell, but I saw him stagger just as he planted his foot on the battlement; he was evidently hit, and a general yell from the multitude told that they saw it too; he made a convulsive spring to secure himself, fell back, lost his hold, and plunged headlong from a height of a hundred and fifty feet to the ground!  Another tried the same adventure, and with the same fate; three in succession were shot; but enthusiasm or madness gave them courage, and at length half a dozen making the attempt together, the belfry was reached, and the tocsin was rung.  Its effect was terrible.  The multitude seemed to be inspired with a new spirit of rage as they heard its clang.  Every bell in Paris soon began to clang in succession.  The din was deafening; the populace seemed to become more daring and desperate every moment; all was uproar.  I could soon see the effect of the tocsin in the new crowds which recruited our assailants from all sides.  Their fire became heavier; still, in the spirit of men fighting for their lives, we kept them at bay till the last cartridge was in our muskets.  But, at the moment of despair, we saw the distant approach of the reinforcement from the Tuileries; and breathed for an instant.  Yet, judge of our astonishment, when it had no sooner entered the crowd, than, instead of driving the wretches before them, we saw the soldiers scatter, mix, and actually fraternize with the canaille; a general scene of embracing and huzzaing followed, the shakos were placed on the heads of the rabble, the hats and caps of the rabble were hoisted on the soldiers’ bayonets; and to our horror alike at their treachery and our inevitable destruction, the troops wearing the king’s uniform, pushed forward, heading the column of insurrection.  We fired our last volley, and all was over.  The multitude burst into the hotel like a torrent.