I darted like a rabbit through a little tunnel left on purpose for me in the rampart, and took my stand by them.
"Is all right ?" ejaculated Croisette turning to me nervously.
"All right, I think," I answered.

I was breathless.
"You are not hurt ?" "Not touched!" I had just time then to draw my sword before the assailants streamed into the room, a dozen ruffians, reeking and tattered, with flushed faces and greedy, staring eyes.

Once inside, however, suddenly--so suddenly that an idle spectator might have found the change ludicrous--they came to a stop.

Their wild cries ceased, and tumbling over one another with curses and oaths they halted, surveying us in muddled surprise; seeing what was before them, and not liking it.
Their leader appeared to be a tall butcher with a pole-axe on his half-naked shoulder; but there were among them two or three soldiers in the royal livery and carrying pikes.

They had looked for victims only, having met with no resistance at the gate, and the foremost recoiled now on finding themselves confronted by the muzzle of the arquebuse and the lighted match.
I seized the occasion.