About two o'clock
It was his belief that soon as it was light enough the troops would move out from their shelter behind the Corps Legislatif and force them back upon the strong barricades in the Rue du Bac , but hour after hour passed and there was no sign of an attack . There was only some desultory firing at long range between parties posted at either end of the streets . The Versaillese , who were not desirous of attempting a direct attack on the front of the formidable fortress into which the insurgents had converted the terrace of the Tuileries , developed their plan of action with great circumspection ; two strong columns were sent out to right and left that , skirting the ramparts , should first seize Montmartre and the Observatory and then , wheeling inward , swoop down on the central quarters , surrounding them and capturing all they contained , as a shoal of fish is captured in the meshes of a gigantic net . About two o'clock Maurice heard that the tricolor was floating over Montmartre : the great battery of the Moulin de la Galette had succumbed to the combined attack of three army corps , which hurled their battalions simultaneously on the northern and western faces of the butte through the Rues Lepic , des Saules and du Mont-Cenis ; then the waves of the victorious troops had poured back on Paris , carrying the Place Saint-Georges , Notre-Dame de Lorette , the _ mairie _ in the Rue Drouot and the new Opera House , while on the left bank the turning movement , starting from the cemetery of Mont-Parnasse , had reached the Place d'Enfer and the Horse Market . These tidings of the rapid progress of the hostile army were received by the communards with mingled feelings of rage and terror amounting almost to stupefaction . What , Montmartre carried in two hours ; Montmartre , the glorious , the impregnable citadel of the insurrection ! Maurice saw that the ranks were thinning about him ; trembling soldiers , fearing the fate that was in store for them should they be caught , were slinking furtively away to look for a place where they might wash the powder grime from hands and face and exchange their uniform for a blouse .