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Updated: May 24, 2025
The transition from dull despair to buoyant hope had been so sudden: it had all happened in less than three minutes. The scuffle had been short and sudden outside. The two soldiers of Santerne had been taken completely unawares, and the three young lieutenants of the Scarlet Pimpernel had fallen on them with such vigour that they had hardly had time to utter a cry of "Help!"
The blackness of the night too had become absolutely dense, and in the distance the cries of the populace grew more and more faint. The unexpected. The small party walked on in silence. It seemed to consist of a very few men of the National Guard, whom Santerne had placed under the command of the soldier who had transmitted to him the orders of the Citizen-Deputies.
It seemed as if nothing now could save Deroulede and Juliette from an immediate and horrible death. "A mort! A mort! A la lanterne les traitres!" Santerne himself, who had shouted himself hoarse, was at a loss what to do.
Santerne had told off two of his men to join the new escort of the prisoners, and presently the small party, skirting the walls of the Palais de Justice, began to walk rapidly away from the scene of the riot. Deroulede noted that some half-dozen men seemed to be surrounding him and Juliette, but the drizzling rain blurred every outline.
The lazy, pleasant voice was unmistakable, but, God in heaven! where did it come from? Of one thing there could be no doubt. The two men despatched by Santerne were lying disabled on the ground, whilst three other soldiers were busy pinioning them with ropes. What did it all mean?
When they arrive you are to move along with the cart, as if you were making for the Luxembourg Prison. This manoeuvre will give us time to deliver the prisoners safely at the Temple." The man spoke hurriedly and peremptorily, and Santerne was only too ready to obey. He felt relieved at thought of reinforcements, and glad to be rid of the responsibility of conducting such troublesome prisoners.
"They are safe in the Temple by now!" shouted Santerne hoarsely, in savage triumph at seeing them all baffled. At first it seemed as if the wrath of the infuriated populace, fooled in its lust for vengeance, would vent itself against the commandant of Paris and his soldiers; for a moment even Santerre's ruddy cheeks had paled at the sudden vision of this unlooked for danger.
Citizen Santerne had been unable to keep the mob back until the arrival of the cavalry reinforcements. Within five minutes of the abduction of Deroulede and Juliette the crowd had broken through the line of soldiers, and had stormed the cart, only to find it empty, and the prey dissappeared.
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