As there was no work to do at present, they were allowed to talk, and an occasional laugh was heard, for the sun and brightness of the day cheered them.

Many, after years of captivity, had grown altogether reckless, and it was among these that there was most talking; the younger men seemed, for the most part, silent and moody.
"You will get accustomed to it," the man next to Gervaise said cheeringly.

"When I first came here, it seemed to me that I could not support the life for a month--that the fate was too dreadful to be borne, and that death would be most welcome; but, like the rest, I became accustomed to it in time.

After all, the work is no harder than one would do at home.

There is no stint of food, and it is no worse than one would have, were one labouring in the fields.