Chapter 115 5 This is impossible with gas lamps

At this time, a low and rhythmic sound began to be heard from a distance.Jean Valjean ventured a glance from a corner of the wall.Seven or eight soldiers, lined up, were entering the intersection of Polonceau Street.He could see the glint of the guns, and they were coming towards him. He saw Javert's tall figure leading the procession slowly and deliberately.They stop every now and then.It was obvious that they were searching every corner, every door opening and every lane. There was no doubt that it was a patrol that Javert had encountered on the road and had been called in temporarily.

Two of Javert's assistants also joined their ranks. Calculated from the speed with which they traveled and the stops they stopped along the way, it would take another quarter of an hour to reach Jean Valjean.This is a critical moment, Jean Valjean is on the brink of death, this is the third time in his life, and within a few minutes he will be finished again, and this is not just a matter of hard labor, Cosette will also be ruined from now on , which means that she will be wandering like a lonely ghost in the future. Only one thing is possible at this point. Jean Valjean has such a characteristic that we may say that he has a bag with the thoughts of a saint at one end and the skills of a prisoner at the other.He can consider the situation and choose between the two.

During the years of his many escapes from the prisons of Toulon, he had learned, among other things, a feat of which he was the most adept; Relying on the strength of your own muscles, you can use the back of your neck, shoulders, hips, and knees to support the occasional corners of the stone, and if necessary, you can go straight up to six feet from the right angle where the two walls connect. Floors.Twenty years ago, the prisoner Bartmore used this trick to escape from the corner of the prison of the Ministry of Justice in Paris. Even now, people still sweat when looking at the corner of the wall, and the corner of the yard has become famous because of it. .

Jean Valjean measured the height of the wall with his eyes, and saw a linden tree projecting from the top of it.The wall was about eighteen feet high.It meets the peak of the building to form a concave corner, and a triangular pile of bricks and stones is built at the base of the wall under the corner. Probably because this kind of wall corner is too convenient for passers-by, a diagonal pile is built to make it easier for people to pass by. They "travel on their own weight."This kind of filling of protective corners is quite common in Paris. The pile of bricks and stones was about five feet high.The distance from the top of the pile to the top of the wall was no more than fourteen feet.

The walls were paved with flat stone slabs, without rafters. Cosette was troubled.Cosette, she, does not know how to climb walls.Lost her?Jean Valjean never thought of it.It was impossible to carry her up.He had to use all his strength to deftly lift himself up.Even a little burden will make him lose his focus and fall down. It was necessary to have a rope, but Jean Valjean did not have it.In this Rue Polonceau, in the middle of the night, where can I find the rope?Indeed, at this juncture, if Jean Valjean had had a kingdom, he would have exchanged it for a rope. Every emergency has its flashes, which sometimes blind us and sometimes make us see.

While Jean Valjean was looking around hastily, he caught a glimpse of the lamp-post in Jeanlot's dead-end street. There was not a single gas lamp in the streets of Paris at that time.Only one return light is installed at a certain distance on the street, and it is lit when it is getting dark.That kind of street lamp is pulled up and down by a rope, which runs from one side of the street to the other side, and is installed in the groove of the pillar.The turntable around the rope is closed in a small iron box under the lamp, the key is kept by the lamplighter, and the rope is protected by a metal pipe within a certain height.

Jean Valjean used his willpower to fight for life and death, he dashed across the street, entered a dead end, pried open the lock key of the small iron box with the tip of his knife, and returned to Cosette's side in a short while.He has a rope.The quick-witted people who sneak into the world are always quick-sighted when life and death are at stake. As we have already said, there were no street lights that night.Naturally, the lights in the dead end of Jean-Louis are the same as in other places, they are dark, even if someone walks by, they will not notice that it is no longer in the original position.

The hour, the place, the darkness, Jean Valjean's look, his strange behavior, his comings and goings, had made Cosette restless.Had it been another child would have been yelling.As for her, she only gently tugged at the hem of Jean Valjean's coat.All the while they heard more and more distinctly the sound of the patrol approaching them. "Father," she said in a very low voice, "I'm afraid. Who's here?" "Don't ring!" replied the sad man. "It's Madame Thenardier." Cosette was startled.He added: "Don't talk. Let me come. If you cry, if you cry, Madame Thenardier will come and take you back."

Then Jean Valjean, calmly, methodically, with quick, steady and precise movements—especially when the patrol and Javert may suddenly appear at any time, not to allow him to do one thing twice—untied him. He looped his tie around the child's armpit and knotted it loosely around her, taking care not to let her feel it too tight. At the other end of the rope, he took off his shoes and socks, threw them over the wall, jumped onto the mound, and began to rise from the corner where the two walls meet, with steady and steady movements, as if he had a certain footwork with his heels and elbows. like.In less than half a minute, he was already kneeling on the wall.

Cosette stared at him in a daze, and said nothing.Jean Valjean's exhortations and the name Thenardier had long since stupefied her. Suddenly she heard Jean Valjean's voice calling softly to her: "Put your back against the wall." She stands with her back to the wall. "Don't make noise, don't be afraid," repeated Jean Valjean. She felt herself lift off the ground, rising. Before she could figure out what was going on, she was on top of the wall. Jean Valjean picked her up, put her on his back, took her two small hands with his left hand, and, flattening himself on the top of the wall, climbed up to the sloping wall.Just as he had guessed, there was a hut here, the ridge of the roof was connected to the slab wall, the eaves were quite close to the ground, and the slope of the roof was quite gentle, and it was also close to the linden tree.

This is advantageous because the side inside the wall is much higher than the side facing the street.Jean Valjean looked down, and saw that the ground was still very deep from him. He had just touched the slope of the roof, and before his hand left the ridge of the wall, he heard a loud voice, and the patrol team had arrived.Javert's voice was heard again, roaring like thunder: "Search this dead-end alley! Zhibi Street has already been guarded, and Piccubs Street has also been guarded. I will ensure that he is in this dead-end alley." The soldiers all rushed into Jeanlot's dead end. Jean Valjean, supporting Cosette, slid down the roof, slid to the linden tree, and jumped on the ground again.Perhaps out of terror, perhaps out of audacity, Cosette said nothing.She wiped some skin off her hands.