But this didn't prevent the two workingmen from becoming best of
friends. They went off to work together in the mornings and sometimes
had a glass of beer together on the way home.

It eventually came about that Golden Mouth could render a service to
Young Cassis, one of those favors that is remembered forever.

It was the second of December. The zinc-worker decided, just for the fun
of it, to go into the city and watch the rioting. He didn't really care
about the Republic, or Napoleon or anything like that, but he liked the
smell of gunpowder and the sound of the rifles firing. He would have
been arrested as a rioter if the blacksmith hadn't turned up at the
barricade at just that moment and helped him escape. Goujet was very
serious as they walked back up the Rue du Faubourg Poissonniere. He was
interested in politics and believed in the Republic. But he had never
fired a gun because the common people were getting tired of fighting
battles for the middle classes who always seemed to get the benefit of
them.

As they reached the top of the slope of the Rue du Faubourg
Poissonniere, Goujet turned to look back at Paris and the mobs. After
all, some day people would be sorry that they just stood by and did
nothing. Coupeau laughed at this, saying you would be pretty stupid to
risk your neck just to preserve the twenty-five francs a day for the
lazybones in the Legislative Assembly. That evening the Coupeaus invited
the Goujets to dinner. After desert Young Cassis and Golden Mouth kissed
each other on the cheek. Their lives were joined till death.

For three years the existence of the two families went on, on either