Over the following days the outrage over the proposed constitution swelled. Large crowds gathered in the streets to protest and at night shots were fired at the National Assembly and the headquarters of the Jacobin and Girondin parties. Fearing for their lives, the deputies granted the leading member of the Committee for Public Safety, Paul Barras, temporary powers to defend the government. And so the entrances to the Tuileries palace were barricaded and manned by troops still loyal to the government.

On the morning of the third day in October Junot shook Napoleon awake.

‘Get dressed. We have to get out of here.’

‘What?’ Napoleon shook his head. ‘Junot, what’s going on?’

‘The royalists.They’re on the move.They have squads of men out on the streets arresting any deputies they can find, and any army officers. They’re already searching the hotels in the next street.’

Napoleon threw back his bedclothes and dressed quickly. He pulled a plain grey coat over his uniform jacket and thought for a moment about taking his sword, then decided against it. If they came across a search party the best thing to do would be to run for it. The sword would only be an encumbrance. Instead, he picked up an old plain coat and tossed it to his friend. ‘Wear that over your jacket.’

Shortly afterwards, the two men left the hotel, cautiously glancing down the narrow street, still gloomy in the thin light of dawn.

‘Where are we going?’ Junot asked.

‘The Tuileries.’

‘Why there? That’s the first place the royalists will attack.We’ll be trapped.’

‘Barras will need every man to defend the government.’

Junot recalled the last days of the monarchy and its futile attempt to defend the palace against the Paris mob. ‘We’ll be slaughtered.’

‘It’s possible,’ Napoleon replied coolly. ‘This is the hour of the republic’s greatest danger. If we lose, then the revolution fails. But if we win, then, my dear Junot, we will be the heroes of the hour and our fortunes will be made.’

As they strode swiftly along the cobbled streets, they heard a sudden crackle of musket fire in the distance. Junot turned to his friend.‘Somehow, I think that the other side has exactly the same thought.’

They avoided the main boulevards as they hurried towards the Tuileries, while the sounds of musket fire became more general, accompanied by distant shouts. At last they reached the edge of the square called the Carrousel in front of the grand gates of the palace. Several wagons had been dragged into the square and overturned and armed men took cover behind them, keeping watch on the government troops defending the palace.

‘Damn,’ Napoleon muttered. ‘We’ll have to try another approach closer to the gates.’

Beside him Junot looked out over the square. ‘We’ll still have to cross the open ground.’