Page 302 - les-miserables

Meanwhile, the cart continued to sink slowly. Father
Fauchelevent rattled in the throat, and shrieked:—
‘I am strangling! My ribs are breaking! a screw! some-
thing! Ah!’
Madeleine glanced about him.
‘Is there, then, no one who wishes to earn twenty louis
and save the life of this poor old man?’
No one stirred. Javert resumed:—
‘I have never known but one man who could take the
place of a screw, and he was that convict.’
‘Ah! It is crushing me!’ cried the old man.
Madeleine raised his head, met Javert’s falcon eye still
fixed upon him, looked at the motionless peasants, and
smiled sadly. Then, without saying a word, he fell on his
knees, and before the crowd had even had time to utter a
cry, he was underneath the vehicle.
A terrible moment of expectation and silence ensued.
They beheld Madeleine, almost flat on his stomach be-
neath that terrible weight, make two vain efforts to bring
his knees and his elbows together. They shouted to him, ‘Fa-
ther Madeleine, come out!’ Old Fauchelevent himself said to
him, ‘Monsieur Madeleine, go away! You see that I am fated
to die! Leave me! You will get yourself crushed also!’ Mad-
eleine made no reply.
All the spectators were panting. The wheels had con-
tinued to sink, and it had become almost impossible for
Madeleine to make his way from under the vehicle.
Suddenly the enormous mass was seen to quiver, the cart
rose slowly, the wheels half emerged from the ruts. They

302 Les Miserables