A Workingman [running in]. I've just come from the Left Bank. They're all on the move: in the Place Maubert, La Basoche, La Montagne Sainte-Geneviève. They're marching against the Invalides to seize the weapons there—thousands of muskets! The French Guards, monks, women, students, a whole army. The King's Attorney and the Curé de Saint-Étienne-du-Mont are marching at their head.
Hoche. You were asking for weapons, Hulin. There they are.
Hulin. You can't take the Bastille with a few hundred old arquebuses, or even a few good cannon from the Invalides. You might as well try to split a rock open with a knife.
Hoche. No, the Bastille can't be taken with cannon, but it will be taken.
Hulin. How?
Hoche. The Bastille must fall, and fall it will. The gods are with us.
Hulin [with a shrug]. What gods?
Hoche. Justice, Reason. Bastille, you will fall!
The People. You will fall!
Hulin. I'd rather see a few real allies. I don't believe in it. Never mind, it shall never be said that any one got ahead of me. I'll even be the first to march against it. Perhaps you know better than I what must be done, but I'll do it. So, you want to attack the Bastille, you fools? Forward!
Hoche. By God, you can do anything simply by saying it's possible! [Gonchon returns with his patrol.]
