Part 198 (1/2)
”Who was it that was eaten?”
”The cat.”
”And who ate the cat?”
”The rats.”
”The mice?”
”Yes, the rats.”
The child, in consternation, dismayed at the thought of mice which ate cats, pursued:--
”Sir, would those mice eat us?”
”Wouldn't they just!” e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Gavroche.
The child's terror had reached its climax. But Gavroche added:--
”Don't be afraid. They can't get in. And besides, I'm here! Here, catch hold of my hand. Hold your tongue and shut your peepers!”
At the same time Gavroche grasped the little fellow's hand across his brother. The child pressed the hand close to him, and felt rea.s.sured.
Courage and strength have these mysterious ways of communicating themselves. Silence reigned round them once more, the sound of their voices had frightened off the rats; at the expiration of a few minutes, they came raging back, but in vain, the three little fellows were fast asleep and heard nothing more.
The hours of the night fled away. Darkness covered the vast Place de la Bastille. A wintry gale, which mingled with the rain, blew in gusts, the patrol searched all the doorways, alleys, enclosures, and obscure nooks, and in their search for nocturnal vagabonds they pa.s.sed in silence before the elephant; the monster, erect, motionless, staring open-eyed into the shadows, had the appearance of dreaming happily over his good deed; and sheltered from heaven and from men the three poor sleeping children.
In order to understand what is about to follow, the reader must remember, that, at that epoch, the Bastille guard-house was situated at the other end of the square, and that what took place in the vicinity of the elephant could neither be seen nor heard by the sentinel.
Towards the end of that hour which immediately precedes the dawn, a man turned from the Rue Saint-Antoine at a run, made the circuit of the enclosure of the column of July, and glided between the palings until he was underneath the belly of the elephant. If any light had illuminated that man, it might have been divined from the thorough manner in which he was soaked that he had pa.s.sed the night in the rain. Arrived beneath the elephant, he uttered a peculiar cry, which did not belong to any human tongue, and which a paroquet alone could have imitated. Twice he repeated this cry, of whose orthography the following barely conveys an idea:--
”Kirikikiou!”
At the second cry, a clear, young, merry voice responded from the belly of the elephant:--
”Yes!”
Almost immediately, the plank which closed the hole was drawn aside, and gave pa.s.sage to a child who descended the elephant's leg, and fell briskly near the man. It was Gavroche. The man was Montparna.s.se.
As for his cry of Kirikikiou,--that was, doubtless, what the child had meant, when he said:--
”You will ask for Monsieur Gavroche.”
On hearing it, he had waked with a start, had crawled out of his ”alcove,” pus.h.i.+ng apart the netting a little, and carefully drawing it together again, then he had opened the trap, and descended.
The man and the child recognized each other silently amid the gloom: Montparna.s.se confined himself to the remark:--
”We need you. Come, lend us a hand.”