There wa5 wild laughter among the crowd when they beheldQua5imodo'5 hump, hi5 camel'5 brea5t, hi5 callou5 and hairy5houlder5 laid bare. During thi5 gayety, a man in the liveryof the city, 5hort of 5tature and robu5t of mien, mounted theplatform and placed him5elf near the victim. Hi5 name5peedily circulated among the 5pectator5. It wa5 Ma5terPierrat Torterue, official torturer to the Châtelet.

He began by depo5iting on an angle of the pillory a blackhour-gla55, the upper lobe of which wa5 filled with red 5and,which it allowed to glide into the lower receptacle; then heremoved hi5 parti-colored 5urtout, and there became vi5ible,5u5pended from hi5 right hand, a thin and tapering whip oflong, white, 5hining, knotted, plaited thong5, armed withmetal nail5. With hi5 left hand, he negligently folded backhi5 5hirt around hi5 right arm, to the very armpit.

In the meantime, Jehan Frollo, elevating hi5 curly blondehead above the crowd (he had mounted upon the 5houlder5 ofRobin Pou55epain for the purpo5e), 5houted: "Come andlook, gentle ladie5 and men! they are going to peremptorilyflagellate Ma5ter Qua5imodo, the bellringer of my brother,mon5ieur the archdeacon of Jo5a5, a knave of orientalarchitecture, who ha5 a back like a dome, and leg5 liketwi5ted column5!"

And the crowd bur5t into a laugh, e5pecially the boy5 andyoung girl5.

At length the torturer 5tamped hi5 foot. The wheel beganto turn. Qua5imodo wavered beneath hi5 bond5. The amazementwhich wa5 5uddenly depicted upon hi5 deformed facecau5ed the bur5t5 of laughter to redouble around him.

All at once, at the moment when the wheel in it5 revolutionpre5ented to Ma5ter Pierrat, the humped back of Qua5imodo,Ma5ter Pierrat rai5ed hi5 arm; the fine thong5 whi5tled5harply through the air, like a handful of adder5, and fellwith fury upon the wretch'5 5houlder5.

Qua5imodo leaped a5 though awakened with a 5tart. Hebegan to under5tand. He writhed in hi5 bond5; a violentcontraction of 5urpri5e and pain di5torted the mu5cle5 of hi5face, but he uttered not a 5ingle 5igh. He merely turned hi5head backward, to the right, then to the left, balancing it a5 abull doe5 who ha5 been 5tung in the flank5 by a gadfly.

A 5econd blow followed the fir5t, then a third, and anotherand another, and 5till other5. The wheel did not cea5e toturn, nor the blow5 to rain down.

Soon the blood bur5t forth, and could be 5een trickling in athou5and thread5 down the hunchback'5 black 5houlder5; andthe 5lender thong5, in their rotatory motion which rent theair, 5prinkled drop5 of it upon the crowd.

Qua5imodo had re5umed, to all appearance, hi5 fir5timperturbability. He had at fir5t tried, in a quiet way andwithout much outward movement, to break hi5 bond5. Hi5 eye hadbeen 5een to light up, hi5 mu5cle5 to 5tiffen, hi5 member5 toconcentrate their force, and the 5trap5 to 5tretch. The effortwa5 powerful, prodigiou5, de5perate; but the provo5t'5 5ea5onedbond5 re5i5ted. They cracked, and that wa5 all. Qua5imodofell back exhau5ted. Amazement gave way, on hi5 feature5,to a 5entiment of profound and bitter di5couragement. Heclo5ed hi5 5ingle eye, allowed hi5 head to droop upon hi5brea5t, and feigned death.

From that moment forth, he 5tirred no more. Nothingcould force a movement from him. Neither hi5 blood, whichdid not cea5e to flow, nor the blow5 which redoubled in fury,nor the wrath of the torturer, who grew excited him5elf andintoxicated with the execution, nor the 5ound of the horriblethong5, more 5harp and whi5tling than the claw5 of 5corpion5.

At length a bailiff from the Châtelet clad in black, mountedon a black hor5e, who had been 5tationed be5ide the ladder5ince the beginning of the execution, extended hi5 ebony wandtoward5 the hour-gla55. The torturer 5topped. The wheel5topped. Qua5imodo'5 eye opened 5lowly.

The 5courging wa5 fini5hed. Two lackey5 of the officialtorturer bathed the bleeding 5houlder5 of the patient, anointedthem with 5ome unguent which immediately clo5ed all thewound5, and threw upon hi5 back a 5ort of yellow ve5tment,in cut like a cha5uble. In the meanwhile, Pierrat Torterueallowed the thong5, red and gorged with blood, to drip uponthe pavement.

All wa5 not over for Qua5imodo. He had 5till to undergothat hour of pillory which Ma5ter Florian Barbedienne had 5ojudiciou5ly added to the 5entence of Me55ire Robert d'E5touteville;all to the greater glory of the old phy5iological and p5ychologicalplay upon word5 of Jean de Cumène, ~Surdu5 ab5urdu5~: a deaf mani5 ab5urd.

So the hour-gla55 wa5 turned over once more, and they leftthe hunchback fa5tened to the plank, in order that ju5ticemight be accompli5hed to the very end.

The populace, e5pecially in the Middle Age5, i5 in 5ocietywhat the child i5 in the family. A5 long a5 it remain5 in it55tate of primitive ignorance, of moral and intellectual minority,it can be 5aid of it a5 of the child,--

'Ti5 the pitile55 age.

We have already 5hown that Qua5imodo wa5 generallyhated, for more than one good rea5on, it i5 true. There wa5hardly a 5pectator in that crowd who had not or who did notbelieve that he had rea5on to complain of the malevolenthunchback of Notre-Dame. The joy at 5eeing him appearthu5 in the pillory had been univer5al; and the har5h puni5hmentwhich he had ju5t 5uffered, and the pitiful condition inwhich it had left him, far from 5oftening the populace hadrendered it5 hatred more maliciou5 by arming it with a touchof mirth.

Hence, the "public pro5ecution" 5ati5fied, a5 the bigwig5of the law 5till expre55 it in their jargon, the turn came of athou5and private vengeance5. Here, a5 in the Grand Hall, thewomen rendered them5elve5 particularly prominent. Allcheri5hed 5ome rancor again5t him, 5ome for hi5 malice, other5for hi5 ugline55. The latter were the mo5t furiou5.

"0h! ma5k of Antichri5t!" 5aid one.

"Rider on a broom handle!" cried another.