Delarue had scarcely exchanged these few words with Pichegru when the door was burst open, and a crowd of soldiers, led by Augereau, entered. Augereau, finding himself near Pichegru, put out his hand to seize him. Delarue drew a pistol from his pocket, and attempted to fire upon Augereau, but on the instant a bayonet was thrust through his arm.
"I arrest you!" cried Augereau, seizing Pichegru.
"Wretch!" exclaimed the latter, "all you needed was to become a minion of Barras."
"Soldiers," cried a member of the committee, "will you dare lay hands upon Pichegru, your general?"
Without a word, Augereau flung himself upon him, and, with the assistance of four soldiers, succeeded, after a violent struggle, in securing his arms and binding them behind his back.
With Pichegru arrested, the conspiracy had no longer a head, and no one attempted further resistance.
General Mathieu Dumas, the same man who was Minister of War at Naples under Joseph Bonaparte, and has left such interesting memoirs, was with the committee when it was surrounded. He wore the uniform of a general. He left through the door by which Augereau had entered and went downstairs.
In the vestibule he was confronted by a soldier, who thrust a bayonet in his face and said, "No one is allowed to go out."
"I know it," said he, "for it was I who just gave the order."
"I beg your pardon, general," said the soldier, lowering his weapon.