"Poor Esmeralda*!" said a Bohemian "She is our sister
We must release her."
" Is she still in Notre-Dame ? " asked a jew-looking
pedlar.
" Ay, by the mass ! "
" Well then, comrades ! " cried the pedlar, l ' to Notre-
THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE-DAME. 365
Dame ! the sooner the hetter ! In the chapel of St. Fereol
and St. Ferrutien there are two statues, one of St. John
Baptist, the other of St. Antony, both of gold, weighing to-
gether seventeen marks fifteen esterlings, and the pedestals
of silver gilt seventeen marks five ounces. I know this to
a certainty I am by trade a goldsmith."
By this time Jehan's supper was set before him.
Falling to with an excellent appetite, he exclaimed, " By
St. Voult-de-Lucques ! the people call him St. Goguelu,
I am the happiest fellow in Paris, though I have
renounced the half of a house situate, lying, and being
in Paradise, promised me by my brother the archdea-
con. Look at that simpleton, gazing at me with the
smooth look of an archduke. There is another on my left
with tusks so long that they hide his chin. Body o' Ma-
hound ! comrade ! thou hast the very air and odour of a
bone-dealer; and yet hast the assurance to clap thyself down
so near me ! I am noble, my friend. Trade is incom-
patible with nobility. Go thy ways ! Soho ! you there !
what are ye fighting for ? What, Baptiste Croque Oison,
art not afraid to risk thy goodly nose against the clumsy
fists of that booby ? Knowest thou not, simpleton, non
cuiquam datum est habere nasum ? Thou wouldst be ab-
solutely divine, Jacqueline Rouge-Oreille ! if thou couldst
add a few inches to thine. Girls, keep those mischievous
brats quiet, and snuff the candles. By Mahound ! what
have I got here ! Goodly hostelry of Beelzebub !"
So saying, he dashed his plate on the pavement, and be-
gan singing with all his might one of the peculiar songs
of the lawless crew of whom he had become a worthy asso-
ciate.
Clopin Trouillefou had meanwhile finished his distri-
bution of arms. He went up to Gringoire, who, with his
feet on the andiron, appeared to be in a brown study.
" Friend Pierre," said the king of Thunes, " what the
devil art thinking of ? "
Gringoire turned towards him with a melancholy smile.
w I am fond of the fire, my dear sir," said he, (< not for
the trivial reason that it warms our feet or cooks our soup,
S'{>(5 THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE-DABIE.
but because there are sparks in it. Sometimes I pass whole
hours watching those sparks. I discover a thousand things
in those stars which sprinkle the black chimney-back.
Those stars are worlds too."
' ' Thunder and death, if I understand thee ! " cried the
king of Thunes. " Dost know what hour it is ? "
" Not I," answered Gringoire.
Clopin then went to the duke of Egypt. " Comrade
Matthias," said he, " it lacks not quite one quarter of an
hour. I am told the king is in Paris."
a One reason more why we should get our sister out of
their clutches," replied the old Bohemian.
" Thou speakest like a man, Matthias," rejoined Trou-
illefou. " Besides, we shall get on swimmingly. No re-
sistance to fear in the church. The canons are mere hares,
and we are strong. The officers of the parliament will be
finely taken in to-morrow when they go to look for her.
By the pope's nose ! they shall not hang the comely damsel."
With these words Clopin sallied forth from the tavern.
Gringoire, roused from his meditations, had begun to
contemplate the wild and noisy scene around him, mutter-
ing between his teeth, Luxuriosa res vinum et tumultuosa
ebrietas. What good reason have I to abstain from liquor !
and how admirably St. Benedict observes, Vinum aposta-
tarefacit etiam sapientes !
At that moment Clopin returned, and shouted with a
voice of thunder, " Midnight ! "
At this signal, which had the effect of the sound to horse
upon a regiment in halt, all the Vagabond crew, men, wo-
men, and children, poured in a torrent out of the tavern,
with a loud noise of arms and the clanking of iron imple-
ments.
The moon was overcast. The Cour des Miracles was
quite dark. Not a light was to be seen. It was neverthe-
less filled with a multitude of both sexes, who talked in low
tones together. A vast buzz was to be heard, and all sorts
of weapons were seen glistening in the dark. Clopin
mounted a huge stone. (< To your ranks, ye men of Cant,"
lie cried. " To your ranks, Egypt ! To your ranks, Ga-
TEfE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE-DAME. S6'7
lilee ! " A bustle ensued amid the darkness. Tb>. immense
multitude appeared to be forming in column. In a few
minutes the king of Thunes again raised his voice. " Now,
silence in passing through the streets ! No torch is to be
lit till we are at Notre-Dame. March ! "
In less than ten minutes the horsemen of the watch fled
panic-stricken before a long black procession descending in
profound silence towards the Pont-au-Change, along the
winding streets which run in all directions through the
massive quarter of the Halles.
CHAPTER IV.
A MISCHIEVOUS FRIEND.
That same night Quasimodo slept not. He had just
gone his last round in the church. He had not remarked
that, at the moment when he was fastening the doors, the
archdeacon had passed, or the ill-humour he had shown
on seeing him employed in carefully bolting and padlocking
the immense iron bars, which gave to the large folding-
doors the solidity of a wall. Dom Claude appeared that
night to be more deeply absorbed in thought than usual.
Ever since the nocturnal adventure in the cell, he had
treated Quasimodo with great harshness ; but, in spite of
this usage, nay even though he sometimes went so far as
to strike him, nothing could shake the submission, the
patience, the devoted resignation, of the faithful bell-
ringer. From the archdeacon he would take any thing,
abuse, threats, blows, without murmuring a reproach,
without uttering a complaint. The utmost that he did
was to watch the archdeacon with anxiety when he as-
cended the staircase of the tower ; but Claude had of
himself cautiously abstained from appearing again in the
presence of the Egyptian.
That night then, Quasimodo, after taking a glance at
his bells., at Mary, at Jacqueline, at Thibault, whom he
36*8 THE HUNCHBACK OP NOTRE-DAME.
had lately so miserably neglected, went up to the top of
the northern tower, and there, placing his well -closed dark
lantern on the leads, he began to take a survey of Paris.
The night, as we have already said, was very dark.
Paris, which, at this period, was scarcely lighted at all,
presented to the eye a confused aggregate of black masses,
intersected here and there by the whitish curve of the
Seine. Quasimodo could discern no light but in the
window of a distant building, the vague and sombre out-
line of which was visible above the roofs in the direction
of the gate of St. Antoine. There too was some one who
watched.
While his eye ranged over this expanse of haze and
darkness, an unaccountable feeling of apprehension and
uneasiness gained upon him. For several days past he had
been upon his guard. He had observed suspicious looking
men prowling incessantly about the church, and keeping
their eyes fixed on the young girl's asylum. He imagined
that some plot against the unfortunate refugee might be
on foot, and that the hatred of the people might be di-
rected against her as it was against himself. So he stood
on the watch, upon his tower, revant dans son revoir, as
Rabelais expresses it, gazing by turns at the cell and at
the city, making sure guard, like a good dog, with a heart
full of distrust.
All at once, while he was scrutinising the great city
with the eye which Nature, by way of compensation,
had made so piercing that it almost supplied the deficiency
of the other organs, it seemed to him that the outline of
the quay of La Vielle Pelleterie had an extraordinary ap-
pearance ; that there was a motion at that point ; that the
black line of the parapet, denned upon the white surface
of the water, was not straight and steady like that of the
other quays ; but that it undulated to the eye, like the
waves of a river, or like the heads of a moving multitude.
This struck him as strange. He redoubled his attention.
The movement appeared to be towards the City. It lasted
some time on the quay, then subsided by degrees, as if that
which caused it were entering the interior of the Isle ;
THE HUNCHBACK OP NOTRE-DAME. 36*9
it afterwards ceased entirely, and the outline of the quay
again became straight and motionless.
While Quasimodo was forming all sorts of conjectures,
the movement seemed to re-appear in the Rue du Parvis,
which runs into the City, perpendicularly to the facade of
Notre-Dame. At last, notwithstanding the intense dark-
ness, he perceived the head of a column approaching
through this street, and the next moment a crowd spread
itself over the Place du Parvis, where nothing could be
distinguished but that it was a crowd.
This sight was alarming. It is probable that this sin-
gular procession, which seemed to make a point of avoiding
observation, was equally careful to maintain profound si-
lence ; yet it could not help making some noise, were it
only by the trampling of feet. But even this sound
reached not the ear of Quasimodo ; and this vast multi-
tude, of which he could scarcely see any thing, and of
which he heard absolutely nothing, though all was bustle
and motion so near to him, must have had the effect of
an army of the dead, mute, impalpable, and shrouded in
vapour. It appeared to him as if a mist full of human
beings was approaching, and that what he saw moving
were shadows of the shades.
Then were his apprehensions revived, and the idea of an
attempt against the gipsy-girl again occurred to his mind.
He had a confused foreboding of mischief. At this cri-
tical moment he began to consider what course he had best
pursue, and with more judgment and decision than might
have been expected from a brain so imperfectly organised.
Ought he to wake the Egyptian ? to assist her to escape ?
How ? which way ? the streets were invested ; the church
was backed by the river. There was no boat, no outlet.
He had, therefore, but one course to die on the thresh-
old of Notre-Dame ; at any rate to make all the resist-
ance in his power until succour should arrive, and not to
disturb the slumbers of La Esmeralda ; the unfortunate
creature would be awakened time enough to die. This
resolution once taken, he set about examining the enemy
with greater composure.
The crowd seemed to increase every moment in the
B B
370 THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE-DAME
Parvis. He presumed, however, that the noise they made
must be very slight, because the windows in the streets
and the Place remained closed. All at once a light ap-
peared, and in an instant seven or eight lighted torches
rose above the heads of the multitude, shaking their tufts
of flame amid the darkness. Then did Quasimodo dis-
tinctly perceive a frightful rabble of men and women in
rags, armed with scythes, pikes, pick-axes, and halberts,
with their thousand glistening heads. Here and there
black forks projected like horns over hideous faces. He
had some vague recollection of this mob, and fancied that
he had seen those faces some months before, when he was
elected Pope of Fools. A man, who held a torch in one
hand and a cudgel in the other, got upon a post, and ap-
peared to be haranguing them. At the same time this
strange army made some evolutions, as if certain divisions
were taking their respective stations about the church.
Quasimodo picked up his lantern, and went down to the
platform between the towers, to obtain a nearer view and
to arrange his means of defence.
Clopin Trouillefou, on his arrival before the lofty por-
tal of Notre-Dame, had, in fact, ranged his troops in
order of battle. Though he expected no resistance, yet he
resolved, like a prudent general, to preserve such order as
would enable him to face about in case of need against
any sudden attack of the watch or of the onze-vingts.
Accordingly, he drew up his brigade in such a way that,
had you seen it from above, or at a distance, you would
have taken it for the Roman triangle at the battle of
Ecnomus, the boar's head of Alexander, or the famous
wedge of Gustavus Adolphus. The base of this triangle
rested upon the farthest side of the Place, so as to block
up the Rue du Parvis ; one of its sides faced the Hotel-
Dieu, and the other the Rue Saint- Pierre- aux-Bceufs.
Trouillefou had placed himself at the apex, with the duke of
Egypt, our friend Jehan, and the boldest of the Vagabonds.
An enterprise of this kind was by no means uncommon
in the towns of the middle ages. Police, as we under-
stand the term, there was none. Neither was there in
populous cities, and in capitals more particularly, any sole,
THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE-DAME. 371
central, regulating power. The feudal system had consti-
tuted these large communities after a strange fashion. A
city was an assemblage of a thousand seigneuries, which
cut it up into compartments of all forms and all dimen-
sions. Hence a thousand contradictory polices, that is to
say, no police at all. In Paris, for instance, independ-
ently of the one hundred and forty-one seigneurs claiming
manorial rights, there were twenty-five who claimed the
right of administering justice, from the bishop of Paris,
who had five hundred streets, down to the prior of Notre-
Dame-des- Champs, who had four. The paramount au-
thority of the king was but nominally recognised by all
these feudal justiciaries. Louis XI., that indefatigable
workman, who so largely commenced the demolition of the
feudal edifice, continued by Richelieu and Louis XIV. for
the interest of royalty, and completed by Mirabeau for the
benefit of the people Louis XI. had certainly endea-
voured to break this web of seigneuries spread out over
Paris, by violently hurling against it at random two or
three ordinances of general police. Thus, in 1465, the
inhabitants were ordered as soon as it was dark to place
lighted candles in their windows, and to shut up their dogs,
upon pain of the gallows. The same year they w r ere en-
joined to block the streets at night with iron chains, and
forbidden to carry daggers or offensive weapons out of
doors after dusk ; but, in a short time, all these attempts at
municipal legislation fell into neglect. The old structure
of feudal jurisdictions was left standing. Bailiwicks and
seigneuries without number carved out the city among
them, crossing, jostling, entangling themselves with, and
dove-tailing into, one another. There was an endless con-
fusion of watches, under-watches, and counter- watches, in
defiance of which robbery, plunder, and sedition, were car-
ried on by main force. Amidst this disorder, then, it was
no uncommon thing for a part of the rabble to make an
attack upon a palace, a mansion, a house, in the most
populous parts of the city. The neighbours in general
abstained from interfering in the affair, unless the pillage
extended to their own property. They shut their ears to
the firing, closed their shutters, barricaded their doors, left
bb2
372 THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE-DAME.
the quarrel to be settled by or without the watch ; and the
next morning the talk in Paris would be, " Stephen Bar-
bette's was broken open last night/' or " the Marechal de
Clermont was seized,'' &c. Thus not only the royal habit-
ations, the Louvre, the Palace, the Bastille, Les Tournelles,
but the mere seignorial residences, the Petit- Bourbon, the
Hotel de Sens, and the Hotel d'Angouleme, had their
walls and their battlements, their portcullises and their
gates. The churches were protected by their sanctity.
Some of them, however, were fortified ; but Notre-Dame
was not of the number. The abbey of St. Germain- des-
Pres was embattled like a baronial castle, and it expended
more brass on cannon than on bells. But to return to
Notre-Dame :
As soon as the first arrangements were terminated
and we must say, for the honour of the Vagabond disci-
pline, that Clopin's orders were executed in silence, and
with admirable precision the worthy chief of the band
mounted upon the parapet of the Parvis, and raised his
harsh and husky voice, turning his face towards Notre-
Dame,. and at the same time waving his torch, the flame of
which, blown about by the wind, and ever and anon
almost drowned in its own smoke, now reddened the facade
of the church, and presently left it buried in darkness.
11 To thee, Louis de Beaumont, bishop of Paris, coun-
sellor to the court of parliament, I, Clopin Trouillefou,
king of Thunes, grand Coesre, prince of Slang, bishop of
Fools, give this notice : Our sister, falsely condemned
for magic, has taken sanctuary in thy church. Thou
owest her safeguard and protection. Now, the court of
parliament wishes to lay hold of her again, and thou con-
sentest thereto ; therefore, O bishop, are we come to thee.
If thy church is sacred, our sister is sacred also ; if our
sister is not sacred, neither is thy church. We summon
thee, then, to surrender the girl to us if thou wouldst save
thy church ; or, we will take the girl ourselves and plunder
thy church. This will be still better. In testimony
whereof I here plant my banner. So God keep thee,
bishop of Paris ! "
Unluckily, Quasimodo could not hear these words, which
THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE-DAME. 373
were pronounced with a sort of wild and sombre majesty.
One of the Vagabonds delivered his banner to Clopin, who
solemnly planted it between two paving-stones. It was a
pitch-fork, on the tines of which hung a lump of bleeding
carrion.
This done, the king of Thunes turned round and sur-
veyed his army, a savage throng, whose eyes glistened
almost as much as their pikes. After a moment's pause,
he gave the word of onset. c ' Forward ! my lads ! To
your business, blackguards ! " was the cry of Clopin Trou-
illefou.
Thirty stout men, fellows with brawny limbs and the
faces of blacksmiths, sprang from the ranks, bearing sledge-
hammers, pincers, and crowbars in their hands and on
their shoulders. They made for the great door of the
church, ascended the steps, and were presently crouching
down beneath the arch, at work with their pincers and
their levers. A crowd of the Vagabonds followed to assist
or to look on. The eleven steps of the porch were thronged
by them. The door, however, held firm. * Devil ! "
.aid one, " it is tough and obstinate ! " "'T is old, and
its joints are stiff," said another. " Courage, comrades !"
replied Clopin. " I '11 wager my head against an old shoe
that you will have opened the door, taken the girl, and
stripped the high altar before there is a beadle awak
Hold, I think the lock is giving way.''
Clopin was interrupted at this moment by a tremendou
crash behind him. He turned round. An enormous beam
had fallen from the sky ; it had crushed a dozen of the
Vagabonds on the steps of the church, and rebounded on
the pavement with the noise of a cannon, breaking a score
or two of legs among the crowd of beggars, who, with
cries of horror, scampered off in every direction. The
area of the Parvis was cleared in a twinkling. The black-
smiths, though protected by the depth of the porch, aban-
doned the door, and Clopin himself fell back to a respect-
ful distance from the church. " I have had a narrow
escape," cried Jehan : " I was in the wind of it, by Jove !
but Peter the Butcher is butchered."
It is impossible to describe the fright and consternation
II 3
374 THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE-DAME.
which fell with that beam upon the banditti. For some
minutes they stood staring up at the sky, more astounded
at the piece of timber than they would have been by the
arrival of twenty thousand of the king's archers. " The
devil ! " exclaimed the duke of Egypt, u this does look like
magic !" " It must surely be the moon that has thrown
us this log," said Andry the Red. " Why then, methinks,
the moon is a good friend to our Lady, the Virgin," ob-
served Francois Chanteprune. " Thousand popes ! "
cried Clopin, " ye are a parcel of fools \" but still he
knew not how to account for the fall of the beam.
Meanwhile nothing was to be seen on the facade, the
top of which was too high for the light of the torches
to reach it. The ponderous beam lay in the middle of the
Parvis, and nothing was heard save the groans of the
wretches who had been mangled by its shock upon the
steps. The first panic over, the king of Thunes at length
fancied that he had made a discovery, which appeared
plausible to his companions. " Ventre Dieu!" cried he,
" are the canons defending themselves ? If so, sack !
sack !"" Sack ! sack I* responded the whole crew, with a
tremendous hurrah ; and a furious discharge of cross-bows
and arquebusses was levelled at the facade of the church.
The report of the fire-arms awoke the peaceful inha-
bitants of the neighbouring houses ; sundry windows might
be seen opening, nightcaps popping out, and hands hold-
ing candles. " Fire at the windows ! " roared out Clopin.
The windows were shut in an instant, and the poor citi-
zens, who had scarcely had time to cast a hasty and timid
glance upon this scene of flash and tumult, returned to
perspire with fright by the sides of their spouses, asking
themselves whether the witches' sabbath was now held in
the Parvis, or whether there was another attack of the
Burgundians, as in 64>. The men were apprehensive of
robbery, the women of violence, and all trembled.
" Sack ! sack !" repeated the men of Slang, but they
durst not advance. They looked first at the church and
then at the beam. The beam did not stir, and the church
retained its calm and lonely air, but something had frozen
the courage of the Vagabonds.
THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE-DAME. 3?5
<f To work, then, scoundrels ! " cried Trouillefou.
" Force the door ! '' Not a soul moved a finger. " Pretty
fellows, these," said Clopin, " who are frightened out of
their wits by a bit of wood !'' " Captain," rejoined an
old smith, " it is not the bit of wood that frightens us,
but the door is all clamped with iron bars. The pincers
are of no use." " What want you then to break it
open?" enquired Clopin. " We want a battering-ram."
" Here it is then," cried the king of Thunes, stepping
boldly up to the formidable beam, and setting his foot upon
it : " the canons themselves have sent you one. Thank
you, canons," he added, making a mock obeisance towards
the church.
This bravado produced the desired effect. The charm
of the beam was broken ; picked up like a feather by two
hundred vigorous arms, it was dashed with fury against
the great door, which the Vagabonds had in vain attempted
to force. In the dim light thrown by the few torches
upon the Place, this long beam and its supporters might
have been taken for an immense beast with hundreds of
legs butting at a giant of stone.
At the shock of the beam the half-metallic door re-
sounded like an immense drum : it yielded not, but the
whole cathedral shook, and the innermost cavities of the
edifice were heard to groan. At the same instant a
shower of stones began to rain upon the assailants. w This
is no joke ! " cried Jehan : " are the towers shaking
their balustrade upon us ? " But the impulse was given ;
the king of Thunes was right : it was decidedly the bishop
defending his citadel, and the Vagabonds only battered the
door with the more fury, in spite of the stones which
were cracking skulls in all directions. It is remarkable
that these stones fell one by one, but so closely did they
follow each other, that the assailants always felt two
at a time, one at their legs, the other on <heir heads.
There were few of them that did not tell ; already a large
heap of killed and wounded lay bleeding and palpitating
under the feet of their comrades, who, nothing daunted,
filled up their ranks as fast as they were thinned. The
long beam continued to batter at regular intervals, the
B B 4
$76 THE HUNCHBACK OF KOTRE-DAME.
floor to groan, and the stones to shower down. The reader
need not be told that this unexpected resistance, which so
exasperated the Vagabonds, proceeded from Quasimodo.
Chance had unluckily favoured the courageous hunchback.
When he had descended to the platform between the
towers, his brain was all in confusion. For some minutes
he ran along the gallery to and fro like a maniac, looking
down at the compact mass of banditti ready to burst into
the church, and calling upon saints and angels to save the
Egyptian. He had a thought of mounting to the southern
belfry and ringing the alarm-bell ; but before he could