Page 1858 - les-miserables

CHAPTER V

PREPARATIONS

The journals of the day which said that that nearly impreg-
nable structure, of the barricade of the Rue de la Chanvrerie,
as they call it, reached to the level of the first floor, were mis-
taken. The fact is, that it did not exceed an average height
of six or seven feet. It was built in such a manner that the
combatants could, at their will, either disappear behind it
or dominate the barrier and even scale its crest by means of
a quadruple row of paving-stones placed on top of each oth-
er and arranged as steps in the interior. On the outside, the
front of the barricade, composed of piles of paving-stones
and casks bound together by beams and planks, which were
entangled in the wheels of Anceau’s dray and of the over-
turned omnibus, had a bristling and inextricable aspect.
An aperture large enough to allow a man to pass through
had been made between the wall of the houses and the
extremity of the barricade which was furthest from the
wine-shop, so that an exit was possible at this point. The pole
of the omnibus was placed upright and held up with ropes,
and a red flag, fastened to this pole, floated over the barri-
cade.

1858 Les Miserables