"To make a barricade with, to be sure!"
"Yes, yes, barricades—let us have barricades!" exclaimed several voices.
And, in the twinkling of an eye, the horses were detached, the cart thrown on its side and the contents piled up across the street.
"Good!" said Arago. "Now you won't need me any more; I am wanted elsewhere."
And, leaving the barricade to be guarded by those who had helped in its construction, he crossed the Delorme passage, went along the rue de Rivoli and reached the Vaudeville. People were just going in.
"There shall be no play while fighting is going on!" he said; "give the people back their money!"
Then, to those who persisted in going in—
"Pardon, messieurs," he said—"there shall be no laughing at the Vaudeville whilst Paris is in tears."
And he began trying to shut the gate.
"Monsieur," a voice asked, "why are you closing the Vaudeville?"