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So
,
week
in
,
week
out
,
the
prisoners
of
the
plague
struggled
along
as
best
they
could
.
As
we
have
seen
,
a
few
,
like
Rambert
,
even
managed
to
imagine
that
they
were
acting
as
free
men
and
that
they
could
still
choose
.
But
in
reality
one
could
say
,
at
that
moment
,
in
the
middle
of
August
,
that
the
plague
had
covered
everything
.
There
were
no
longer
any
individual
destinies
,
but
a
collective
history
that
was
the
plague
,
and
feelings
shared
by
all
.
The
greatest
of
these
were
feelings
of
separation
and
exile
,
with
all
that
that
involved
of
fear
and
rebellion
.
This
is
why
the
narrator
feels
it
appropriate
,
at
this
high
point
of
heat
and
sickness
,
to
describe
the
general
situation
and
,
for
the
sake
of
examples
,
the
violence
of
our
living
fellow
-
citizens
,
the
burials
of
the
dead
and
the
suffering
of
parted
lovers
.
It
was
in
the
middle
of
that
year
that
the
wind
rose
and
blew
for
several
days
on
the
plague
-
ridden
town
.
The
inhabitants
of
Oran
have
a
particular
dread
of
the
wind
because
it
encounters
no
natural
obstacle
on
the
plateau
where
the
town
lies
and
consequently
sweeps
along
the
streets
with
full
force
.
After
those
long
months
in
which
not
a
drop
of
water
had
refreshed
the
town
,
it
was
covered
by
a
grey
coating
which
peeled
off
when
the
wind
blew
on
it
.
In
this
way
,
it
raised
clouds
of
dust
and
papers
,
which
wrapped
around
the
legs
of
what
had
become
rare
passers
-
by
.
One
saw
them
hasten
down
the
street
,
bent
forward
,
with
a
handkerchief
or
a
hand
across
their
mouths
.
In
the
evening
,
instead
of
the
gatherings
in
which
people
tried
to
prolong
contact
as
far
as
possible
these
days
,
each
of
which
could
be
the
last
,
one
met
small
groups
of
people
hurrying
to
return
home
or
get
into
cafes
,
so
much
so
that
for
some
days
,
at
dusk
which
fell
much
faster
at
that
time
of
the
year
,
the
streets
were
deserted
and
only
the
wind
moaned
continually
down
them
.
A
smell
of
seaweed
and
salt
rose
from
the
wind
-
tossed
,
always
invisible
sea
.
This
empty
town
,
white
with
dust
,
saturated
with
sea
smells
,
loud
with
the
howl
of
the
wind
,
would
groan
at
such
times
like
an
island
of
the
damned
.
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Up
to
now
the
plague
had
claimed
many
more
victims
in
the
outlying
districts
,
which
were
more
crowded
and
less
affluent
than
the
centre
of
town
.
But
suddenly
it
seemed
to
get
closer
and
to
take
up
residence
in
the
business
quarters
as
well
.
The
inhabitants
accused
the
wind
of
carrying
the
seeds
of
infection
.
"
It
is
shuffling
the
cards
,
"
said
the
manager
of
the
hotel
.
Whatever
the
cause
,
the
town
centre
learned
that
its
turn
had
come
when
its
people
heard
with
increased
frequency
at
night
the
throbbing
of
ambulances
sounding
the
dreary
,
passionless
call
of
the
plague
beneath
their
windows
.
Inside
the
town
someone
had
the
idea
of
quarantining
certain
districts
which
had
been
especially
hard
hit
and
only
allowing
people
whose
services
were
indispensable
to
leave
them
.
Those
who
had
lived
there
until
that
time
were
bound
to
consider
this
measure
as
a
form
of
victimization
particularly
directed
against
them
;
in
any
case
,
they
considered
the
inhabitants
of
other
areas
to
be
free
men
.
Meanwhile
,
people
from
these
other
areas
found
some
consolation
in
hard
times
in
the
idea
that
there
were
those
still
less
free
than
themselves
.
"
There
’
s
always
someone
more
captive
than
I
am
,
"
was
the
statement
that
summed
up
the
only
possible
hope
at
that
time
.
In
roughly
this
same
period
,
there
was
an
increased
number
of
fires
,
especially
in
the
leisure
districts
around
the
west
gates
of
the
town
.
Investigation
showed
that
these
were
due
to
people
who
had
come
back
from
quarantine
and
,
driven
mad
by
grief
and
misfortune
,
set
light
to
their
houses
under
the
illusion
that
this
would
kill
the
plague
.
It
was
very
hard
to
fight
these
endeavours
,
which
were
frequent
enough
to
put
whole
districts
in
permanent
danger
because
of
the
violence
of
the
wind
.
After
it
had
been
demonstrated
,
to
no
avail
,
that
disinfection
of
houses
by
the
authorities
was
enough
to
protect
against
any
risk
of
contamination
,
it
became
necessary
to
impose
very
harsh
penalties
on
these
innocent
pyromaniacs
.
It
was
apparently
not
the
idea
of
prison
itself
that
discouraged
these
unfortunates
,
but
the
idea
that
they
shared
with
everyone
else
,
namely
that
a
prison
term
was
equivalent
to
a
death
sentence
,
because
of
the
very
high
mortality
rate
found
in
the
municipal
jail
.
Of
course
,
this
belief
was
not
without
foundation
.
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For
obvious
reasons
,
the
plague
seemed
to
fasten
particularly
on
all
those
who
had
become
accustomed
to
living
in
groups
:
soldiers
,
members
of
religious
orders
or
prisoners
.
Despite
the
isolation
of
some
inmates
,
a
prison
is
a
community
,
and
what
proves
this
is
the
fact
that
in
our
municipal
prison
the
warders
were
as
likely
as
the
prisoners
to
succumb
to
the
disease
.
From
the
higher
point
of
view
adopted
by
the
plague
,
everyone
,
from
the
prison
governor
to
the
least
of
the
inmates
,
was
condemned
,
and
perhaps
for
the
first
time
absolute
justice
reigned
inside
the
jail
.
The
authorities
tried
in
vain
to
introduce
a
hierarchy
into
this
levelling
and
had
the
idea
of
decorating
prison
warders
who
had
died
carrying
out
their
duties
.
As
a
state
of
siege
had
been
declared
and
,
from
some
points
of
view
,
it
might
be
said
that
prison
warders
were
on
active
service
,
they
were
awarded
a
military
medal
,
posthumously
.
Yet
,
while
the
prisoners
raised
no
objection
,
the
military
reacted
badly
and
correctly
pointed
out
that
an
unfortunate
confusion
might
arise
in
the
public
mind
.
Their
objection
was
accepted
and
it
was
decided
that
the
simplest
thing
was
to
give
warders
who
died
the
Medal
of
the
Epidemic
.
But
,
in
the
case
of
the
first
among
them
,
the
harm
had
been
done
and
there
could
be
no
question
of
taking
away
their
decoration
,
though
the
military
authorities
continued
to
press
their
point
of
view
.
In
any
case
,
as
far
as
the
epidemic
medal
was
concerned
,
it
had
the
disadvantage
of
not
producing
the
effect
on
morale
which
resulted
from
the
award
of
a
military
decoration
,
since
it
was
quite
routine
to
get
such
a
decoration
in
the
event
of
an
epidemic
.
So
no
one
was
happy
.