They looked forlorn enough to
have excited deep sympathy under fairer conditions.
Outside the fort the creoles were beginning a noise of jubilation.
The rumor of what was going to be done had passed from mouth to
mouth, until every soul in the town knew and thrilled with
expectancy. Men, women and children came swarming to see the
sight, and to hear at close range the crash of the cannon. They
shouted, in a scattering way at first, then the tumult grew
swiftly to a solid rolling tide that seemed beyond all comparison
with the population of Vincennes. Hamilton heard it, and trembled
inwardly, afraid lest the mob should prove too strong for the
guard.
One leonine voice roared distinctly, high above the noise. It was
a sound familiar to all the creoles,--that bellowing shout of
Gaspard Roussillon's. He was roaming around the stockade, having
been turned back by the guard when he tried to pass through the
main gate.
"They shut me out!" he bellowed furiously. "I am Gaspard
Roussillon, and they shut me out, me! Ziff! me voici! je vais
entrer immediatement, moi!"
He attracted but little attention, however; the people and the
soldiery were all too excited by the special interest of the
occasion, and too busy with making a racket of their own, for any
individual, even the great Roussillon, to gain their eyes or ears.
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