"The one on the black horse."
"Why! he is a child who has not yet had time to grow," said Morgan, shrugging his shoulders.
"Don't worry," said Cartaux, laying his hand on Morgan's shoulder, "he will grow."
Barras, Bonaparte, and the rest of the staff continued to advance toward General Cartaux.
"I will stay," said Morgan; "I should like to see this Bonaparte close at hand."
"Then hide behind me, or, rather, behind Cartaux," said Garat; "you will have more room."
Morgan drew back and the cavalcade approached the general. Barras drew rein before General Cartaux, but Bonaparte rode forward a few steps further, and remained alone in the middle of the quay. As he was only half a musket shot from the Sectionist ranks, several muskets were aimed at him; whereupon Morgan sprang forward, and, with one bound, placed himself between the Sectionists and the general's body. Then, with a wave of his hat, he commanded them to lower their muskets.
Bonaparte rose in his stirrups, apparently unmindful of what had just taken place before him. The Pont-Neuf, the Rue de la Monnaie, the Quai de la Vallée, the Rue de Thionville, and the Quai Conti as far as the Institute, were thronged with armed men. As far as the eye could reach along the Quai de l'École, the Quai de la Mégisserie, and the Quai des Morfondus, muskets gleamed in the sun, thick as spears of wheat in a wheat field.
"How many men do you think there are before you, citizen Cartaux," asked Bonaparte.
"I could not say exactly," replied Cartaux. "In open country I could guess within a thousand men, but here in the streets and quays I cannot make even an approximate guess."