2020 Les Miserables
CHAPTER IX
EMPLOYMENT OF THE OLD
TALENTS OF A POACHER
AND THAT INFALLIBLE
MARKSMANSHIP WHICH
INFLUENCED THE
CONDEMNATION OF 1796
Opinions were exchanged in the barricade. The firing
from the gun was about to begin again. Against that grape-
shot, they could not hold out a quarter of an hour longer. It
was absolutely necessary to deaden the blows.
Enjolras issued this command:
‘We must place a mattress there.’
‘We have none,’ said Combeferre, ‘the wounded are ly-
ing on them.’
Jean Valjean, who was seated apart on a stone post, at
the corner of the tavern, with his gun between his knees,