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 certain 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."



He was put to the sword. In the Rue Saint-Denis, a woman fired on the National Guard from behind a lowered blind. The slats of the blind could be seen to tremble at every shot. A child fourteen years of age was arrested in the Rue de la Cossonerie, with his pockets full of cartridges. Many posts were attacked. At the entrance to the Rue Bertin-Poiree, a very lively and utterly unexpected fusillade welcomed a regiment of cuirrassiers, at whose head marched Marshal General Cavaignac de Barague. In the Rue Planche-Mibray, they threw old pieces of pottery and household utensils down on the soldiers from the roofs; a bad sign; and when this matter was reported to Marshal Soult, Napoleon's old lieutenant grew thoughtful, as he recalled Suchet's saying at Saragossa: "We are lost when the old women empty their pots de chambre on our heads."



These general symptoms which presented themselves at the moment when it was thought that the uprising had been rendered local, this fever of wrath, these sparks which flew hither and thither above those deep masses of combustibles which are called the faubourgs of Paris,--all this, taken together, disturbed the military chiefs. They made haste to stamp out these beginnings of conflagration.



They delayed the attack on the barricades Maubuee, de la Chanvrerie and Saint-Merry until these sparks had been extinguished, in order that they might have to deal with the barricades only and be able to finish them at one blow. Columns were thrown into the streets where there was fermentation, sweeping the large, sounding the small, right and left, now slowly and cautiously, now at full charge. The troops broke in the doors of houses whence shots had been fired; at the same time, manoeuvres by the cavalry dispersed the groups on the boulevards. This repression was not effected without some commotion, and without that tumultuous uproar peculiar to collisions between the army and the people. This was what Enjolras had caught in the intervals of the cannonade and the musketry. Moreover, he had seen wounded men passing the end of the street in litters, and he said to Courfeyrac:--"Those wounded do not come from us."



Their hope did not last long; the gleam was quickly eclipsed. In less than half an hour, what was in the air vanished, it was a flash of lightning unaccompanied by thunder, and the insurgents felt that sort of leaden cope, which the indifference of the people casts over obstinate and deserted men, fall over them once more.



The general movement, which seemed to have assumed a vague outline, had miscarried; and the attention of the minister of war and the strategy of the generals could now be concentrated on the three or four barricades which still remained standing.



The sun was mounting above the horizon.



An insurgent hailed Enjolras.



"We are hungry here. Are we really going to die like this, without anything to eat?"



Enjolras, who was still leaning on his elbows at his embrasure, made an affirmative sign with his head, but without taking his eyes from the end of the street.







十三　掠过一线希望





在防卫街垒的道义感和激烈冲动的混杂心情中是应有尽有的，有勇敢的精神，有青年的朝气，有荣誉的欲望，有激动的热情，有理想，有坚定的信仰，有赌徒的顽强，特别还有断断续续的一线希望。



在这时断时续期间，突然一个模糊的希望颤动着，在意想不到的时候掠过麻厂街的街垒。



“你们听，”一直严加戒备的安灼拉突然叫起来，“巴黎似乎醒来了。”



在六月六日清晨，这些起义者在一两个小时里确实勇气倍增。圣美里持续不断的警钟使一些微弱的希望复活了。梨树街和格拉维利埃街也筑起了街垒。圣与尔丹门前有一个青年，独自用卡宾枪射击一个骑兵连。他毫不隐蔽地在林荫大道上跪下一膝，以肩抵枪，瞄准并击毙了骑兵中队长，然后回转头来说：“又少了一个，他不会再给我们罪受了。”那青年被马刀砍死了。圣德尼街有一个妇女在放下的百叶帘后面射击保安警察。她每打一枪，就可以看到百叶帘在颤动。一个十四岁的孩子在高松纳利街被捕，他的口袋里装满了子弹。好几个岗哨受到了攻打。在贝尔坦－波瓦雷街口，由卡芬雅克·德·巴拉尼将军①带领的装甲联队意外地受到排枪的猛烈射击；在卜朗什－米勃雷街，有人从屋顶向过路的军队扔下破坛烂罐和家用器皿，这是不祥之兆。当有人把这种情况向苏尔特元帅报告时，这位拿破仑的老上尉不禁堕入沉思，他回忆起絮歇②元帅在萨拉戈萨时讲的一句话：“什么时候老奶奶往我们头上用尿壶倒尿，我们就完蛋了。”



①巴拉尼是一八四八年残酷镇压巴黎工人六月起义的陆军部长卡芬雅克的叔父。



②絮歇（Suchet，1772?826），法国元帅，在西班牙作战获胜。



当人们以为暴动已被控制不再蔓延时，又出现了这种普遍的症状，重又燃起的怒火，这些人们称之为巴黎郊区柴堆上飞舞的火花，所有这一切都使军事长官们惶恐不安。他们急于扑灭刚冒头的火灾。在未扑灭之前，推迟了对莫布埃街、麻厂街和圣美里这些街垒的进攻，目的是好集中兵力对付它们，一举全歼。有些纵队被派遣到有骚乱的街上去，肃清大街，进而追索左右的一些小街小巷，有时蹑手蹑脚，小心提防，有时则加快步伐。军队捅破那些放过冷枪的门，同时，骑兵驱散了在林荫大道上集合的人群。这种镇压不免引起骚乱和军民之间的冲突。安灼拉在炮轰和排枪之间所听到的就是这些声音。此外，他看见街那头有人用担架抬走受伤的人，他对古费拉克说：“受伤的不是我们这边的人。”



希望没有延长多久，微光很快就消逝了。不到半小时，孕育中的暴动破灭了，犹如没有雷声的闪电瞬息即逝一般，起义者感到一块铅质的棺罩，被冷漠的民众盖在他们这些顽强不屈的被遗弃者的身上。



当时的普遍行动似乎已略具规模，但却流产了。陆军大臣①的注意力和将军们的策略，现在能运用集中到这三四个还屹立着的街垒上来了。



①陆军大臣，指苏尔特。



旭日在地平线上升起。



一个起义者质问安灼拉：



“我们这儿大家都饿了。难道我们真的什么都不吃就这样死去吗？”



安灼拉始终把手肘支在胸墙上，注视着街的尽头，点了一下头。

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