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They were in the midst of the combat, they were taking him to be shot; the spy who had arrested him was, properly speaking, an assassin, and assuredly it was a case of legitimate defence. I add that this wretch, a democrat for the people, a spy for the police, was a twofold traitor. Moreover, the police spy was the jackal of the coup d'état, while Cournet was the combatant for the Law.
Both answered by an imperceptible movement of the eyes, which pointed out the street full of passers-by, and which said, "No." A few moments afterwards the fiacre emerged from the Rue St. Antoine, and entered the Rue de Fourcy. The Rue de Fourcy is usually deserted, no one was passing down it at that moment. Cournet turned suddenly to the police spy, and asked him,
I have just come from Paris, I wish to eat first and sleep afterwards." The landlord was touched, took the double louis, and gave him bed and supper. Next day, while he was still sleeping, the landlord came into his room, woke him gently, and said to him, "Now, sir, if I were you, I should go and see Baron Hody." "Who and what is Baron Hody?" asked Cournet, half asleep.
His porter told him that some suspicious persons had inquired for him during the evening of the 2d, and that they had been to the house opposite, No. 12 of the same street, Rue Racine, to arrest Huguenin. This determined Aubry to leave his house before daylight. He walked to the Faubourg St. Antoine. As he reached the place of rendezvous he met Cournet and the others from the Rue Popincourt.
"Citizen Representatives," called out Cournet, "I have placed scouts in the blind alley who will fall back and warn us if the regiment penetrates thither. The door is narrow and will be barricaded in the twinkling of an eye. We are here, with you, fifty armed and resolute men, and at the first shot we shall be two hundred. We are provided with ammunition. You can deliberate calmly."
"Have you a warrant for my arrest?" "No; but I have my card." And he drew his police agent's card out of his pocket, and showed it to Cournet. Then the following dialogue ensued between these two men, "This is not regular." "What does that matter to me?" "You have no right to arrest me." "All the same, I arrest you." "Look here; is it money that you want? Do you wish for any?
Cournet, whose thumb was closely pressed in the neck of the wretched police spy, tried to open the door with his left hand, but he did not succeed, he felt that he could only do it with his right hand, and he was obliged to loose his hold of the man. The man fell face forwards, and sank down on his knees. Cournet opened the door. "Off with you!" he said to them.
The landlord explained to him who Baron Hody was. When I had occasion to ask the same question as Cournet, I received from three inhabitants of Brussels the three answers as follows: "He is a dog." "He is a polecat." "He is a hyena." There is probably some exaggeration in these three answers. A fourth Belgian whom I need not specify confined himself to saying to me, "He is a beast."
"In that case," said Cournet, "we will take sticks." They accordingly armed themselves with big sticks. Cournet gave fifty francs to Henry, and promised him fifty more when they should have crossed the second Custom House line. "That is to say, at four o'clock in the morning," said Henry. It was midnight. They set out on their way.
Cournet, more in danger than ever, hunted, wandering, pursued, hid himself in Paris with considerable difficulty. He remained there till the 16th. He had no means of procuring himself a passport. At length, on the 16th, some friends of his on the Northern Railway obtained for him a special passport, worded as follows: "Allow M. , an Inspector on the service of the Company, to pass."
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