Volume III Part 22 (1/2)
”Well, then,” said Nicholas, ”what change is that?”
”There is this change,” replied Skeleton, ”that if he has sold us, as Big Cripple says, he shall not escape with a small bleeding.”
”Very good,” said Barbillon.
”There must be an example,” said Skeleton, becoming more animated. ”Now it is no longer the grabs who find us out: it is the spies. Jacques and Gauthier guillotined the other day. Roussillon, sent to the galleys for life, sold!”
”And me, and my mother, and Calabash, and my brother at Toulon!” cried Nicholas, ”have we not been sold by Bras-Rouge? That is certain now, since, instead of putting him here, they have sent him to La Roquette! They did not dare leave him with us; he knew his treachery, the sneak!”
”And,” said Barbillon, ”has not Bras-Rouge also sold me?”
”And me,” said a young prisoner, in a shrill and reedy voice, lisping in an affected manner, ”I was betrayed by Jobert, a man who proposed an affair in the Rue Saint Martin.”
This last personage, with the reedy voice, a pale, fat, and effeminate face, and an insidious and cowardly expression, was dressed in a singular manner. He had on his head a red handkerchief, which allowed two locks of white hair to be seen plastered on his temples; the ends of the handkerchief formed a bow over his forehead; he wore, for a cravat, a shawl, of white merino with green palms in the corners on his bosom; his jacket, of maroon colored cloth, disappeared under the tight waistband of his ample trousers, made of gay Scotch plaid.
”If this is not an indignity! Must a man be a scoundrel?” resumed this gentleman with the pretty voice. ”Nothing in the world would have made me suspect Jobert.”
”I know that he informed against you,” answered the Skeleton, who seemed to patronize this prisoner particularly. ”The proof is, that they have done with him as they did with Bras-Rouge; they did not dare leave Jobert here; they locked him up at the Conciergerie. Well, this must be put a stop to: we must have an example. Our traitor brothers carve out work for the police. They think they are sure of their necks because they are put in a different prison from those they have betrayed.”
”It is the truth.”
”To prevent this, every prisoner must look upon all turncoats as deadly enemies: if they have blown on Tony, d.i.c.k, or Harry, it matters not which pounce on them. When we have done the job for four or five in the court, the others will wag their tongues twice before they blow the gaff!”
”You are right,” said Nicholas; ”Germain must die!”
”He shall die,” answered the provost; ”but let us wait until Big Cripple comes. When he shall have proved to everybody that” Germain is a spy, enough said: the sheep will bleat no more; his breath shall be stopped.”
”And what shall we do with the warders, who watch us!” asked the prisoner whom the Skeleton called Ja-votte.
”I have my own idea. Pique-Vinaigre shall serve us.”
”He? He is too cowardly.”
”And not stronger than a mouse.”
”Enough. I understand. Where is he?”
”He returned from the grate, some one came for him to go and patter with his Newgate lawyer.”
”And Germain. Is he still at the grate?”
”Yes; with the little mot who comes to see him.”
”As soon as he descends, attention. But we must wait for Pique-Vinaigre; we can do nothing without him.”
”Without Pique-Vinaigre?”
”No.”
”And Germain shall be--”