There now came on the air the welcome sound of galloping hoofs, and presently two cuirassiers wheeled into the street.

What Maurice had left undone with the cane the cuirassiers completed with the flat of their sabers.

They had had a brush with the students the night before, and they went at them as if determined to take both interest and principal.

The students dispersed like leaves in the wind--all save one.
He rose to his feet, his hands covering his jaw and a dazed expression in his eyes.

He saw Maurice with the revolver, the cuirassiers with their sabers, and the remnant of his army flying to cover, and he decided to follow their example.