806 Les Miserables
to the brilliant light thrown from a dram-shop, he decid-
edly recognized Jean Valjean.
There are in this world two beings who give a profound
start,— the mother who recovers her child and the tiger
who recovers his prey. Javert gave that profound start.
As soon as he had positively recognized Jean Valjean,
the formidable convict, he perceived that there were only
three of them, and he asked for reinforcements at the police
station of the Rue de Pontoise. One puts on gloves before
grasping a thorn cudgel.
This delay and the halt at the Carrefour Rollin to consult
with his agents came near causing him to lose the trail. He
speedily divined, however, that Jean Valjean would want to
put the river between his pursuers and himself. He bent his
head and reflected like a blood-hound who puts his nose to
the ground to make sure that he is on the right scent. Jav-
ert, with his powerful rectitude of instinct, went straight to
the bridge of Austerlitz. A word with the toll-keeper fur-
nished him with the information which he required: ‘Have
you seen a man with a little girl?’ ‘I made him pay two sous,’
replied the toll-keeper. Javert reached the bridge in season
to see Jean Valjean traverse the small illuminated spot on
the other side of the water, leading Cosette by the hand. He
saw him enter the Rue du Chemin-Vert-Saint-Antoine; he
remembered the Cul-de-Sac Genrot arranged there like
a trap, and of the sole exit of the Rue Droit-Mur into the
Rue Petit-Picpus. He made sure of his back burrows, as
huntsmen say; he hastily despatched one of his agents, by
a roundabout way, to guard that issue. A patrol which was