2158 Les Miserables
each other. The one who was in advance was trying to get
away, the one in the rear was trying to overtake the other.
It was like a game of checkers played at a distance and in
silence. Neither seemed to be in any hurry, and both walked
slowly, as though each of them feared by too much haste to
make his partner redouble his pace.
One would have said that it was an appetite following
its prey, and purposely without wearing the air of doing so.
The prey was crafty and on its guard.
The proper relations between the hunted pole-cat and
the hunting dog were observed. The one who was seeking to
escape had an insignificant mien and not an impressive ap-
pearance; the one who was seeking to seize him was rude of
aspect, and must have been rude to encounter.
The first, conscious that he was the more feeble, avoid-
ed the second; but he avoided him in a manner which was
deeply furious; any one who could have observed him would
have discerned in his eyes the sombre hostility of flight, and
all the menace that fear contains.
The shore was deserted; there were no passers-by; not
even a boatman nor a lighter-man was in the skiffs which
were moored here and there.
It was not easy to see these two men, except from the
quay opposite, and to any person who had scrutinized them
at that distance, the man who was in advance would have
appeared like a bristling, tattered, and equivocal being, who
was uneasy and trembling beneath a ragged blouse, and the
other like a classic and official personage, wearing the frock-
coat of authority buttoned to the chin.