Page 2066 - les-miserables

They were, evidently, on the brink of that moment which
M. Clermont-Tonnerre, in 1822, called ‘the tug of war.’
Enjolras’ order was executed with the correct haste which
is peculiar to ships and barricades, the only two scenes
of combat where escape is impossible. In less than a min-
ute, two thirds of the stones which Enjolras had had piled
up at the door of Corinthe had been carried up to the first
floor and the attic, and before a second minute had elapsed,
these stones, artistically set one upon the other, walled up
the sash-window on the first floor and the windows in the
roof to half their height. A few loop-holes carefully planned
by Feuilly, the principal architect, allowed of the passage of
the gun-barrels. This armament of the windows could be ef-
fected all the more easily since the firing of grape-shot had
ceased. The two cannons were now discharging ball against
the centre of the barrier in order to make a hole there, and,
if possible, a breach for the assault.
When the stones destined to the final defence were in
place, Enjolras had the bottles which he had set under the
table where Mabeuf lay, carried to the first floor.
‘Who is to drink that?’ Bossuet asked him.
‘They,’ replied Enjolras.
Then they barricaded the window below, and held in
readiness the iron cross-bars which served to secure the
door of the wine-shop at night.
The fortress was complete. The barricade was the ram-
part, the wine-shop was the dungeon. With the stones
which remained they stopped up the outlet.
As the defenders of a barricade are always obliged to be

2066 Les Miserables