“M______  went out to try to pick up some news, but in an instant we
heard him running back, and he dashed into the room, calling out: 

“‘They are coming!  There they are!’

“‘Who are coming?’ we asked.

“‘The assassins!’

“My first feeling, I confess, was one of joy.  I pounced upon a pair of double-barrelled pistols, resolved not to let myself be slaughtered like a sheep.  Through the window I could see some men climbing over the wall and getting down into the garden.  We had just sufficient time to escape by a back staircase which led to a door, through which we passed, shutting it behind us.  We found ourselves on a road, at the other side of which was a vineyard.  We crossed the road and crept under the vines, which completely concealed us.

“As we learned later, the captain’s house had been denounced as a Bonapartist nest, and the assassins had hoped to take it by surprise; and, indeed, if they had come a little sooner we had been lost, for before we had been five minutes in our hiding-place the murderers rushed out on the road, looking for us in every direction, without the slightest suspicion that we were not six yards distant.  Though they did not see us I could see them, and I held my pistols ready cocked, quite determined to kill the first who came near.  However, in a short time they went away.

“As soon as they were out of hearing we began to consider our situation and weigh our chances.  There was no use in going back to the captain’s, for he was no longer there, having also succeeded in getting away.  If we were to wander about the country we should be recognised as fugitives, and the fate that awaited us as such was at that moment brought home to us, for a few yards away we suddenly heard the shrieks of a man who was being murdered.  They were the first cries of agony I had ever heard, and for a few moments, I confess, I was frozen with terror.  But soon a violent reaction took place within me, and I felt that it would be better to march straight to meet peril than to await its coming, and although I knew the danger of trying to go through Saint-Just again, I resolved to risk it, and to get to Marseilles at all costs.  So, turning to M____, I said: 

“’You can remain here without danger until the evening, but I am going to Marseilles at once; for I cannot endure this uncertainty any longer.  If I find Saint-Just clear, I shall come back and rejoin you, but if not I shall get away as best I can alone.’

“Knowing the danger that we were running, and how little chance there was that we should ever see each other again, he held out his hand to me, but I threw myself into his arms and gave him a last embrace.

“I started at once:  when I reached Saint-Just I found the freebooters still there; so I walked up to them, trolling a melody, but one of them seized me by the collar and two others took aim at me with their muskets.