Germinal — Chapter 30 in French
By Émile Zola
La première quinzaine de février s’écoula encore, un froid noir prolongeait le dur hiver, sans pitié des misérables. THE first fortnight of February passed and a black cold prolonged the hard winter without pity for the poor. De nouveau, les autorités avaient battu les routes : le préfet de Lille, un procureur, un général. Et les gendarmes n’avaient pas suffi, de la troupe était venue occuper Montsou, tout un régiment, dont les hommes campaient de Beaugnies à Marchiennes. Once more the authorities had scoured the roads; the prefect of Lille, an attorney, a general, and the police were not sufficient, the military had come to occupy Montsou; a whole regiment of men were camped between Beaugnies and Marchiennes. Des postes armés gardaient les puits, il y avait des soldats devant chaque machine. Armed pickets guarded the pits, and there were soldiers before every engine. L’hôtel du directeur, les Chantiers de la Compagnie, jusqu’aux maisons de certains bourgeois, s’étaient hérissés de bayonnettes. The manager's villa, the Company's Yards, even the houses of certain residents, were bristling with bayonets. On n’entendait plus, le long du pavé, que le passage lent des patrouilles. Nothing was heard along the streets but the slow movement of patrols. Sur le terri du Voreux, continuellement, une sentinelle restait plantée, comme une vigie au-dessus de la plaine rase, dans le coup de vent glacé qui soufflait là-haut ; et, toutes les deux heures, ainsi qu’en pays ennemi, retentissaient les cris de faction. On the pit-bank of the Voreux a sentinel was always placed in the frozen wind that blew up there, like a look-out man above the flat plain; and every two hours, as though in an enemy's country, were heard the sentry's cries:
— Qui vive ?… Avancez au mot de ralliement ! "Qui vive?—Give the password!"
Le travail n’avait repris nulle part. Nowhere had work been resumed. Au contraire, la grève s’était aggravée : Crèvecœur, Mirou, Madeleine arrêtaient l’extraction, comme le Voreux ; Feutry-Cantel et la Victoire perdaient de leur monde chaque matin ; à Saint-Thomas, jusque-là indemne, des hommes manquaient. On the contrary, the strike had spread; Crèvecœur, Mirou, Madeleine, like the Voreux, were producing nothing; at Feutry-Cental and the Victoire there were fewer men every morning; even at Saint-Thomas, which had been hitherto exempt, men were wanting. C’était maintenant une obstination muette, en face de ce déploiement de force, dont s’exaspérait l’orgueil des mineurs. There was now a silent persistence in the face of this exhibition of force which exasperated the miners' pride. Les corons semblaient déserts, au milieu des champs de betteraves. The settlements looked deserted in the midst of the beetroot fields. Pas un ouvrier ne bougeait, à peine en rencontrait-on un par hasard, isolé, le regard oblique, baissant la tête devant les pantalons rouges. Not a workman stirred, only at rare intervals was one to be met by chance, isolated, with side-long look, lowering his head before the red trousers. Et, sous cette grande paix morne, dans cet entêtement passif, se butant contre les fusils, il y avait la douceur menteuse, l’obéissance forcée et patiente des fauves en cage, les yeux sur le dompteur, prêts à lui manger la nuque, s’il tournait le dos. And in this deep melancholy calm, in this passive opposition to the guns, there was a deceptive gentleness, a forced and patient obedience of wild beasts in a cage, with their eyes on the tamer, ready to spring on his neck if he turned his back. La Compagnie, que cette mort du travail ruinait, parlait d’embaucher des mineurs du Borinage, à la frontière belge ; mais elle n’osait point ; de sorte que la bataille en restait là, entre les charbonniers qui s’enfermaient chez eux, et les fosses mortes, gardées par la troupe. The Company, who were being ruined by this death of work, talked of hiring miners from the Borinage, on the Belgian frontier, but did not dare; so that the battle continued as before between the colliers, who were shut up at home, and the dead pits guarded by soldiery.
Dès le lendemain de la journée terrible, cette paix s’était produite, d’un coup, cachant une panique telle, qu’on faisait le plus de silence possible sur les dégâts et les atrocités. On the morrow of that terrible day this calm had come about at once, hiding such a panic that the greatest silence possible was kept concerning the damage and the atrocities. L’enquête ouverte établissait que Maigrat était mort de sa chute, et l’affreuse mutilation du cadavre demeurait vague, entourée déjà d’une légende. The enquiry which had been opened showed that Maigrat had died from his fall, and the frightful mutilation of the corpse remained uncertain, already surrounded by a legend. De son côté, la Compagnie n’avouait pas les dommages soufferts, pas plus que les Grégoire ne se souciaient de compromettre leur fille dans le scandale d’un procès, où elle devrait témoigner. On its side, the Company did not acknowledge the disasters it had suffered, any more than the Grégoires cared to compromise their daughter in the scandal of a trial in which she would have to give evidence. Cependant, quelques arrestations avaient eu lieu, des comparses comme toujours, imbéciles et ahuris, ne sachant rien. However, some arrests took place, mere supernumaries as usual, silly and frightened, knowing nothing. Par erreur, Pierron était allé, les menottes aux poignets, jusqu’à Marchiennes, ce dont les camarades riaient encore. By mistake, Pierron was taken off with handcuffs at his wrists as far as Marchiennes, to the great amusement of his mates. Rasseneur, également, avait failli être emmené entre deux gendarmes. Rasseneur, also, was nearly arrested by two gendarmes. On se contentait, à la Direction, de dresser des listes de renvoi, on rendait les livrets en masse : Maheu avait reçu le sien, Levaque aussi, de même que trente-quatre de leurs camarades, au seul coron des Deux-Cent-Quarante. The management was content with preparing lists of names and giving back certificates in large numbers. Maheu had received his, Levaque also, as well as thirty-four of their mates in the settlement of the Duex-Cent-Quarante alone. Et toute la sévérité retombait sur Étienne, disparu depuis le soir de la bagarre, et qu’on cherchait, sans pouvoir retrouver sa trace. And all the severity was directed against Étienne, who had disappeared on the evening of the fray, and who was being sought, although no trace of him could be found. Chaval, dans sa haine, l’avait dénoncé, en refusant de nommer les autres, supplié par Catherine qui voulait sauver ses parents. Chaval, in his hatred, had denounced him, refusing to name the others at Catherine's appeal, for she wished to save her parents. Les jours se passaient, on sentait que rien n’était fini, on attendait la fin, la poitrine oppressée d’un malaise. The days passed, everyone felt that nothing was yet concluded; and with oppressed heart everyone was awaiting the end.