They were
changed. The sort of pity I had felt for them left me. They looked
more like themselves every minute. They looked at me with the glances I
remembered so well. They were happy. They smiled.
"'Well,' says Simon, 'the energy of that youngster has saved our lives.
If he hadn't made us, we could never have pulled so far out into the
track of ships. Comrade, I forgive you. I admire you.'
"And Mafile growls from forward: 'We owe you a famous debt of gratitude,
comrade. You are cut out for a chief.'
"Comrade! Monsieur! Ah, what a good word! And they, such men as these
two, had made it accursed. I looked at them. I remembered their lies,
their promises, their menaces, and all my days of misery. Why could they
not have left me alone after I came out of prison? I looked at them and
thought that while they lived I could never be free. Never. Neither I
nor others like me with warm hearts and weak heads. For I know I have
not a strong head, monsieur. A black rage came upon me--the rage of
extreme intoxication--but not against the injustice of society.
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