Page 1536 - les-miserables

convoy rode mounted gendarmes, serious and with sword
in fist.
This procession was so long that when the first vehicle
reached the barrier, the last was barely debauching from the
boulevard. A throng, sprung, it is impossible to say whence,
and formed in a twinkling, as is frequently the case in Paris,
pressed forward from both sides of the road and looked on.
In the neighboring lanes the shouts of people calling to each
other and the wooden shoes of market-gardeners hastening
up to gaze were audible.
The men massed upon the drays allowed themselves to
be jolted along in silence. They were livid with the chill of
morning. They all wore linen trousers, and their bare feet
were thrust into wooden shoes. The rest of their costume
was a fantasy of wretchedness. Their accoutrements were
horribly incongruous; nothing is more funereal than the
harlequin in rags. Battered felt hats, tarpaulin caps, hideous
woollen nightcaps, and, side by side with a short blouse, a
black coat broken at the elbow; many wore women’s head-
gear, others had baskets on their heads; hairy breasts were
visible, and through the rent in their garments tattooed de-
signs could be descried; temples of Love, flaming hearts,
Cupids; eruptions and unhealthy red blotches could also be
seen. Two or three had a straw rope attached to the cross-
bar of the dray, and suspended under them like a stirrup,
which supported their feet. One of them held in his hand
and raised to his mouth something which had the appear-
ance of a black stone and which he seemed to be gnawing;
it was bread which he was eating. There were no eyes there

1536 Les Miserables