"Yes, you may indeed say so! But now there is nothing left for them to take, what must I do with them?"
"Why, tell them to return quietly to their homes."
Charras laughed.
"Homes? You don't really mean that, General!"
"I do, really; they must be fatigued after the tasks they have performed."
"But, General, three-quarters of the brave fellows have no homes to go to, and the other quarter, if they went home, would not find either a morsel of bread or a halfpenny to buy any with."
"Ah! the deuce! that alters the case," said the general. "Then let them have a hundred sous per head."
Charras submitted the general's proposal to his men.
"Oh!... Come now!" they said, "does he think we are fighting for the sake of money?"
Baude ordered a distribution of bread and meat and, when it was done, Charras camped with his troop upon the square of the Hôtel de Ville.