Page 2036 - les-miserables

CHAPTER XIII

PASSING GLEAMS

In the chaos of sentiments and passions which defend a
barricade, there is a little of everything; there is bravery,
there is youth, honor, enthusiasm, the ideal, conviction, the
rage of the gambler, and, above all, intermittences of hope.
One of these intermittences, one of these vague quivers
of hope suddenly traversed the barricade of the Rue de la
Chanvrerie at the moment when it was least expected.
‘Listen,’ suddenly cried Enjolras, who was still on the
watch, ‘it seems to me that Paris is waking up.’
It is certain that, on the morning of the 6th of June, the
insurrection broke out afresh for an hour or two, to a cer-
tain extent. The obstinacy of the alarm peal of Saint-Merry
reanimated some fancies. Barricades were begun in the Rue
du Poirier and the Rue des Gravilliers. In front of the Porte
Saint-Martin, a young man, armed with a rifle, attacked
alone a squadron of cavalry. In plain sight, on the open
boulevard, he placed one knee on the ground, shouldered
his weapon, fired, killed the commander of the squadron,
and turned away, saying: ‘There’s another who will do us no
more harm.’

2036 Les Miserables