"Now," exclaimed De Flotte, "we have thirty guns, let us look for a street corner, and raise a barricade."
There were at that time about two hundred combatants.
They went up the Rue de Montreuil.
After some fifty steps Schoelcher said, "Where are we going? We are turning our backs on the Bastille. We are turning our backs upon the conflict."
They returned towards the Faubourg.
They shouted, "To arms!" They Where answered by "Long live our Representatives!" But only a few young men joined them. It was evident that the breeze of insurrection was not blowing.
"Never mind," said De Flotte, "let us begin the battle. Let us achieve the glory of being the first killed."
As they reached the point where the Streets Ste. Marguerite and de Cotte open out and divide the Faubourg, a peasant's cart laden with dung entered the Rue Ste. Marguerite.
"Here," exclaimed De Flotte.
They stopped the dung-cart, and overturned it in the middle of the Faubourg St. Antoine.