GERMINAL
choked him, and he seemed intoxicated when he went heavily back to the stable.
At the surface the colliers stood gloomily before Trompettes' carcass. A woman said in a low voice:
"Another man; that may go down if it likes!"
But a new flood arrived from the settlement, and Levaque, who was at the head followed by his wife and Bouteloup, shouted:
"Kill them, those Borains! No blacklegs here! Kill them! Kill them!"
All rushed forward, and Étienne had to stop them. He went up to the captain, a tall thin young man of scarcely twenty-eight years, with a despairing, resolute face. He explained things to him; he tried to win him over, watching the effect of his words. What was the good of risking a useless massacre? Was not justice on the side of the miners? They were all brothers, and they ought to understand one another. When he came to use the word "republic" the captain made a nervous movement; but he preserved his military stiffness, and said suddenly:
"Keep off! Do not force me to do my duty."
Three times over Étienne tried again. Behind him his mates were growling. The report ran that M. Hennebeau was at the pit, and they talked of letting him down by the neck, to see if he would hew his coal himself. But it was a false report; only Négrel and Dansaert were there. They both showed themselves for a moment at a window of the receiving-room; the head captain stood in the background, rather out of countenance since his adventure with Pierronne, while the engineer bravely looked round on the crowd with his bright little eyes, smiling with that sneering contempt in which he enveloped men and things generally. Hooting arose, and they disappeared. And in their place only Souvarine's pale face was seen. He was just then on duty; he had not left his engine for a single day since the strike began, no longer talking, more and more absorbed by a fixed idea, the steel nail of which seemed to be shining in the depths of his pale eyes.
"Keep off!" repeated the captain loudly. "I wish to hear nothing. My orders are to guard the pit, and I shall guard it. And do not press on to my men, or I shall know how to drive you back."
[380]
