They were obliged to call out that they had ten times more than they wanted. In an hour there was a heap of forage which would have equalled the height of the Bastille.
Billot placed himself between the shafts of a cart loaded with straw, and instead of dragging it, he pushed it on before him.
Pitou did the same, without knowing what it could be for, but thinking that he could not do better than to imitate the farmer.
Elie and Hullin divined Billot’s intention. They each seized a cart and pushed it before them into the courtyard.
They had scarcely entered, when they were assailed by a discharge of grape—shot. They heard the balls strike with a whizzing sound among the straw or hay, or against the wood—work of the carts; but none of the assailants received a wound.
As soon as this discharge was over, two or three hundred men with muskets rushed on behind those who were pushing forward the carts, and, sheltered by those moving ramparts, they lodged themselves beneath the apron of the bridge itself.
There Billot drew from his pocket a flint, a steel, and some tinder, formed a match by rubbing gunpowder on paper, and set fire to it.
The powder ignited the paper, and the paper ignited the straw and hay.
Each formed a torch for himself, and the four carts were simultaneously set fire to.
The flames reached the apron, caught the timbers with their sharp teeth, and ran along the wood—work of the bridge.
A shout of joy then uttered from the courtyard was taken up by the crowd in the Square St. Antoine, and reiterated with deafening clamors. They saw the smoke rising above the walls, and they hence imagined that something fatal to the besieged was occurring.
In fact the red—hot chains detached themselves from the beams. The bridge fell half broken and half destroyed by fire, smoking and cracking. The firemen rushed forward with their engines, and soon extinguished the flames upon the bridge.
The governor ordered the Invalides to fire upon the people, but they refused.
The Swiss alone obeyed; but they were not artillerymen; they were therefore obliged to abandon the guns.
The French Guards, on the contrary, seeing that the artillery was silenced, brought up their gun and planted it before the gate; their third shot shivered it to pieces.
The governor had gone up to the platform of the castle to see whether the promised reinforcement was approaching, when he found himself suddenly enveloped in smoke. It was then that he precipitately descended and ordered the artillerymen to fire.
The refusal of the Invalides exasperated him. The breaking down of the gate made him at once comprehend that all was lost.
Monsieur de Launay knew that he was hated. He felt that there was no salvation for him. During the whole time that the combat had lasted, he had matured the idea of burying himself beneath the ruins of the Bastille.
At the moment he felt assured that all further defence was hopeless, he snatched a match from the hand of one of the artillerymen, and sprang towards the cellar which served as a powder—magazine.
“The powder! the powder!” cried twenty terrified voices; “the powder! the powder!”
They saw the burning match in the governor’s hand.
They guessed his purpose. Two soldiers rush forward and cross their bayonets before his breast just at the moment when he had opened the door.
“You may kill me,” said De Launay, “but you cannot kill me quick enough to prevent me letting this match fall among the powder—casks; and then besieged and besiegers will all be blown to atoms.”
The two soldiers stopped. Their bayonets remained crossed before De Launay’s breast, but De Launay was still their commander, for all felt that he had their lives in his power. His action had nailed every one to the spot on which he stood. The assailants perceived that something extraordinary was happening. They looked anxiously into the courtyard, and saw the governor threatened and threatening in his turn.
“Hear me,” cried De Launay to the besiegers; “as surely as I hold this match in my hand, with which I could exterminate you all, should any one of you make a single step to enter this courtyard, so surely will I set fire to the powder.”