"I don't know when it is to be, or if it will ever be." He sank his voice. "The leaders are wavering; only the tocsin can tell."
"We assemble by sections?"
Santerre nodded.
Nicole, only half satisfied, turned away.
Barabant, who had overheard enough to form a conjecture, kept his counsel; but Nicole, approving his discretion, imparted the information.
"They say we are to storm the Tuileries. But every one hangs back. They are in a panic at the last moment."
"Why, it is folly; think of the National Guard!" Barabant exclaimed.
"I see well you have just arrived. The National Guard, indeed! We are the National Guard. It is only the Swiss we have to fear."
They had gained the right bank of the Seine, and paused from time to time to watch the water-carriers filling their casks in the river, and the loiterers angling sleepily in the shadow of the boats.