Chapter 290 One Flag - Act One

Nothing happened yet.The clock at Saint-Merry had struck ten o'clock, and Enjolras and Combeferre, carbines in hand, went to sit near the breach in the great rampart.They did not talk, but listened for the farthest and faintest footsteps. Suddenly, in the midst of the eerie silence, a young man's clear and cheerful voice, which seemed to come from beyond the Rue Saint-Denis, began to sing clearly and aloud the words, to the tune of the old folk song "In the Moonlight," At the end, a sentence imitating the crowing of a rooster is added: They shook hands with each other. "It is the voice of Gavroche," said Enjolras.

"To inform us," said Combeferre. A sound of hurried footsteps disturbed the deserted street.A figure more nimble than an acrobat climbed out of the stagecoach, and then Gavroche jumped into the barricade, panting, and said hastily: "My gun! Here they come." An electric shiver ran through the barricade, and the only sound was the touch of a gun. "Would you like my carbine?" Enjolras asked the wild boy. "I want the rifle," replied Gavroche. So saying he took Javert's rifle. The two sentinels also turned back, arriving almost at the same time as Gavroche.One of them was standing guard at the intersection of the street, and the other was on Xiaohuaziwo Street.The guard on Friars' Street remained at his post.This shows that nothing happened with regard to the bridge and the vegetable market.

Only a few paving stones are still visible under the dim light of the red flag on Machang Street. It is like a big black gate in the mist of smoke, which is displayed in front of the uprising people. Everyone is at their fighting post. Forty-three rebels, including Enjolras, Combeferre, Courfeyrac, Bossuet, Joly, Bahore, and Gavroche, crouched in the great rampart, with their heads slightly above the rampart.The barrels of the rifles and carbines rested on the stone like embrasures on the side of a battery, all absorbed and silent, waiting to be fired.Feuilly led six people, guarding the windows of the upper and lower floors of Corinth, with guns in hand, aiming and waiting to be released.

After some time, a burst of heavy footsteps stepped by many people clearly came from the direction of Saint-Leu. The sound was weak at first, then gradually became clearer, and then louder and louder. Intermittent, calm and frightening, getting closer and closer.Other than this, there is no other sound.It's like the dead air and majesty of a huge statue, but the heavy footsteps make people imagine how many creatures there are in the blackness, like thousands of ghosts, and like a giant ghost .It was eerie and frightening, as if hearing the approach of demon soldiers.The footsteps approached, approached even closer, and stopped suddenly.People seem to hear the sound of many people breathing at the intersection of the street.But I can't see anything, only at the end of the street, there are countless slender metal lines swaying in the darkness, like needles, I can hardly see clearly, just like people appearing in front of them when they close their eyelids and just fall asleep That indescribable fluorescent net.It was the distant bayonet and barrel illuminated by the light of the torch.

There was another pause, as if both parties were waiting.Suddenly, from the depths of the darkness, the voice of a person shouted. Since the figure of the person could not be seen, his voice was particularly shrill and frightening, as if the darkness itself was calling, and the person shouted: "Password?" At the same time, there was a click of a gun. Enjolras answered in a sonorous, high-pitched voice: "The French Revolution." "Let go!" said the man's voice. A flash of fire turned the houses along the street purple, as if a stove door had been opened suddenly and then shut again.

The barricade made a terrible cracking sound.That red flag fell.The shot came so hard and so densely that it snapped the flagpole, that is to say, the pole of the stagecoach.Some bullets bounced off overhangs in the walls into the barricade, wounding several people. The impression given by this first volley of guns was chilling enough.The onslaught came with such ferocity that even the boldest could not but think about it.They were obviously dealing with an entire regiment. "Comrades," cried Courfeyrac, "don't waste ammunition, let them enter this street, and we will fight back."

"First," said Enjolras, "we must raise this flag." He picked up the flag that happened to be lying at his feet. They heard the sound of blow rods and barrels banging outside, and the troops were reloading again. Enjolras continued: "Who here has the guts to plant this red flag on the barricade again?" No one answered.The barricade was clearly the target for further shooting, and going to it would be fatal.The most daring mind cannot resolve to sacrifice itself.Enjolras himself was terrified.He asked again: "No one wants to go?"