I wish they had killed me rather than that I should have been brought here to work as a slave." "One always thinks so at first," the man said.

"But somehow one clings to life.

We shall die when Allah wills it, and not before." "What is the matter with your foot ?" Gervaise asked.
"I was with the gang quarrying stones, and a mass of rock fell upon it.
I have been in the infirmary for weeks, and I own that the Christian dogs treated me well.

A slave has his value, you see.

I am nearly cured now, but I shall never walk well again.