Étienne hesitated a moment, and then let himself go, holding on to the roots. He thought for a moment that he was about to fall down the whole five hundred and eighty metres of the mine, but at last he felt a rung, and descended gently.
Il hésita un instant, puis se laissa rouler, en se tenant aux racines, pensa faire le saut des cinq cent vingt-quatre metres que mesurait la fosse, finit pourtant par sentir un échelon.