"'The order has come that all the prisoners of the Commune are to be released. Descend at once, and you can go free.'
"Some of them flashed a look of triumph on me, seeming to expect that I would blush for shame. But I did not blush. I sprang up and stood with my back to the door, and retorted hotly—
"'Idiots! Are you taken in, then, by a simple trick like that? It is a lie to get you down into the courtyard, and shoot you the more easily.'
"This gave them pause.
"'There's reason in that,' they said. 'No doubt the hostage knows the nature of the Communists. But what to do?'
"I was impatient.
"'What to do?' I shouted. 'Do you want a revolutionist to tell you what to do? Barricade yourselves, idiots. Barricade yourselves, and stand siege till the Versaillais come.'
"Their good sense prevailed; they jumped at the suggestion.
"'It is an idea; let us barricade ourselves. Untie the hostage's hands, that he may help.'
"It was done, and I, who had shown the people how to build so many barricades in the streets, now taught these forty-two policemen to build a barricade in the corridor of the prison of La Roquette. We made it by taking the mattresses from the beds in the cells, and laying them one upon another carefully and symmetrically, as one builds a wall with bricks. The barrier was so high that no one could climb over it; so thick that no bullet could pass through it; so solid that it could only be pulled down, piece by piece, by unmolested labourers; and scarcely had we finished it before we found the need of it. We heard the voice of Citizen Ferré himself, no longer promising safe-conduct or immunity.