"But what is all this? who is this bruiser?" cried the Cripple; and
springing upon the Chourineur, he tried to seize his arms from behind,
while the latter endeavored to hold down Skeleton on the bench.

The defender of Germain answered the attack by a kick so violent, that he
sent the Cripple rolling to the extremity of the circle formed by the
prisoners. Germain, of a livid paleness, half suffocated, kneeling beside
the bench, did not appear to have any consciousness of what was passing
around him. The strangulation had been so violent and painful he hardly
breathed. After he had recovered a little, Skeleton, by a desperate effort,
succeeded in shaking off the Chourineur, and getting upon his feet.
Panting, drunk with rage and hatred, he was frightful. His cadaverous face
streamed with blood, his upper lip, drawn back like a mad wolfs, displayed
his teeth closely set against each other. At length he cried, in a voice
breathless with anger and fatigue, for his struggle with the Chourineur had
been violent, "Cut him down, the turncoat, cowards! who let me be attacked
traitorously, or the spy will escape."

During this kind of truce, the Chourineur, raising up the half-fainting
Germain, had skillfully managed to approach by degrees an angle of the
wall, where he placed him. Profiting by this excellent position of defense,
the Chourineur could then, without fear of being attacked from behind, hold
out a long time against the prisoners, on whom the courage and Herculean
strength which he had just displayed made a powerful impression.
Pique-Vinaigre, alarmed, had disappeared during the tumult, without any one
remarking his absence.

Seeing the hesitation of the greater part of the prisoners, Skeleton said,
"Come on, then, let us do the job for both of them, the big 'un and the
little spy."