Chapter 285 seven the man who joined the line at rue piet

It was completely dark and nothing had happened yet.People only heard some faint drum noises, and sometimes some weak and scattered gunshots from a distance.This prolonged silence suggests that the government is taking its time to gather strength.These fifty people are waiting for sixty thousand people. At this moment, like those who are stubborn in the face of danger, Enjolras felt a little impatient.He went to find Gavroche, who was making bullets by the dim candlelight in the hall below. The tables were all covered with gunpowder, and for safety, only two candles were placed on the counter.The candlelight does not shine outside at all.The rebels have taken care not to light the lamps upstairs.

Gavroche was now in a state of unrest, and not so much because of the bullets. The man from the Rue Piette had just entered the hall, and he went and sat down at the table with the dimmest candles, with a large army rifle between his legs.Up to now, Gavroche, preoccupied with all sorts of "fun" things, hadn't paid any attention to that man. As he came in, Gavroche's eyes fell mechanically on his rifle with envy, and then, as the man sat down, the brute stood up suddenly.Anyone who had spied on the man's movements before this would have noticed that he had watched the whole barricade and every insurgent with a strange attention.But since he entered the hall, he seemed to have fallen into a state of meditation again, completely oblivious to what happened around him.The wild boy tiptoed up to the thoughtful man, circling him, as if afraid of waking him up.At this time, all kinds of strange and ugly expressions of the old man appeared on his child's face that was naughty and serious, presumptuous and deep, happy and worried, meaning: "Why!" "Impossible!" "I Are you dazzled!" "I must be dreaming!" "Could this be a..." "No, no!" "Definitely!" "Definitely not!" etc.Gavroche swayed from side to side on his heels, clenched his fists in his pockets, turned his head like a bird, and made a most ugly twitch with all the dexterity of his lower lip. Face.He was stunned, unsure, doubtful, sure, and overjoyed.He had the air of an eunuch discovering a Venus among the potbellied women in a slave market, or a connoisseur identifying an authentic Raphael among shoddy paintings.All his senses of smell and strategic faculties were activated.It was obvious that Gavroche was facing a big event.

He was at the height of this tension when Enjolras came to him. "You are small," said Enjolras, "and are not easy to be seen. Go outside the barricades, sneak along the walls of the houses, look around the street, and come back and tell me what is outside. " Gavroche folded his hands on his hips, stretched out his chest, and said: "Little people can be useful too! That's great! I'll go right away. But, if you can trust the little people, you have to beware of the grown-ups..." At the same time, Gavroche raised his head and stared at Piet Street the man said in a low voice:

"Did you see that big guy?" "how?" "That's a spy." "Are you sure?" "In less than half a month, I was enjoying the shade on the stone railing of Wangjiaqiao, and he was the one who grabbed my ear and lifted me off the top of the railing." Enjolras immediately left the wild boy, and there was a worker at the wine dock beside him, and he said a few words to the worker in a very small voice.The worker walked out of the hall, and immediately turned back with three people.These four men, four broad-shouldered men, without disturbing the man from the Rue Piet, went and stood behind him, who was still sitting still, leaning on the table with his elbows bent.Those four people were obviously ready to pounce on him.

Then Enjolras approached the man and asked him: "who are you?" The man was taken aback by his sudden question.He thrust his gaze directly into Enjolras' frank eyes, and showed that he had guessed the other's thoughts.Smiling, that most haughty, determined smile, he replied in a haughty, composed voice: "I understand what's going on...just do whatever you want!" "Are you a spy?" "I'm a public official." "What's your name?" "Javert." Enjolras gave the four of them a wink.In the blink of an eye, before Javert had time to turn his head to take a look, he was grabbed by the collar, pinned to the ground, tied up with ropes, and searched.

From him was recovered a small round card glued between two panes of glass, bearing on one side the Coat of Arms of France engraved in copperplate and this inscription: "Inspection and Vigilance"; on the other side these entries: Javert, police scout , fifty-two years old; and the signature "M. Gisquet" of the Police Commissioner at the time. In addition, he has a watch and a wallet with some gold coins in it.The watch and wallet were returned to him.In the bottom of the pocket under the watch, I found a piece of paper in an envelope.Enjolras unfolded it and read it. There were these lines written by the Chief of Police on it:

When the search was over, they stood Javert up, and tied his arms behind his back to the famous wooden post in the middle of the hall, after which the hotel was named. Gavroche, who had witnessed all this, and who had remained silent, but nodded silently in approval, approached Javert, and said to him: "This time the little mouse caught the cat." This matter was done very quickly, and no one around the hotel knew it until it was finished.Javert did not cry out.On hearing that Javert was bound to a stake, Courfeyrac, Bossuet, Joly, Combeferre, and those scattered between the two barricades all ran to see.

Javert leaned his back against the wooden post, his body was wrapped in countless ropes, and he could not move at all. He held his head up with the fearless and poised air of a man who never lied. "It's a spy," said Enjolras. Then he turned to Javert and said: "You will be shot two minutes before this barricade falls." Javert replied with the most bold tone: "Why not do it now?" "We're going to save ammo." "Then, just give me a knife and it's over." "Agents," said the handsome Enjolras, "we are judges, not murderers."

Then he called Gavroche. "You! Go do your business! Do as I told you." "I'm going right away," cried Gavroche. As he was leaving, he stopped again and said: "I say, you must give me his rifle!" he added, "I leave you the musician, but I want the clarinet." The wild boy gave a military salute, and happily stepped out of the gap in the big fortress.