"Yes."
"Knot the two pieces together, we"ll fling him the rope, he can fasten it to the wall, and he"ll have enough of it to get down with."
Thenardier ran the risk, and spoke:--
"I am paralyzed with cold."
"We"ll warm you up."
"I can"t budge."
"Let yourself slide, we"ll catch you."
"My hands are benumbed."
"Only fasten the rope to the wall."
"I can"t."
"Then one of us must climb up," said Montparna.s.se.
"Three stories!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Brujon.
An ancient plaster flue, which had served for a stove that had been used in the shanty in former times, ran along the wall and mounted almost to the very spot where they could see Thenardier. This flue, then much damaged and full of cracks, has since fallen, but the marks of it are still visible.
It was very narrow.
"One might get up by the help of that," said Montparna.s.se.
"By that flue?" exclaimed Babet, "a grown-up cove, never! it would take a brat."
"A brat must be got," resumed Brujon.
"Where are we to find a young "un?" said Guelemer.
"Wait," said Montparna.s.se. "I"ve got the very article."
He opened the gate of the fence very softly, made sure that no one was pa.s.sing along the street, stepped out cautiously, shut the gate behind him, and set off at a run in the direction of the Bastille.
Seven or eight minutes elapsed, eight thousand centuries to Thenardier; Babet, Brujon, and Guelemer did not open their lips; at last the gate opened once more, and Montparna.s.se appeared, breathless, and followed by Gavroche. The rain still rendered the street completely deserted.
Little Gavroche entered the enclosure and gazed at the forms of these ruffians with a tranquil air. The water was dripping from his hair.
Guelemer addressed him:--
"Are you a man, young "un?"
Gavroche shrugged his shoulders, and replied:--
"A young "un like me"s a man, and men like you are babes."
"The brat"s tongue"s well hung!" exclaimed Babet.
"The Paris brat ain"t made of straw," added Brujon.
"What do you want?" asked Gavroche.
Montparna.s.se answered:--
"Climb up that flue."
"With this rope," said Babet.
"And fasten it," continued Brujon.
"To the top of the wall," went on Babet.
"To the cross-bar of the window," added Brujon.
"And then?" said Gavroche.
"There!" said Guelemer.
The gamin examined the rope, the flue, the wall, the windows, and made that indescribable and disdainful noise with his lips which signifies:--
"Is that all!"
"There"s a man up there whom you are to save," resumed Montparna.s.se.
"Will you?" began Brujon again.
"Greenhorn!" replied the lad, as though the question appeared a most unprecedented one to him.
And he took off his shoes.
Guelemer seized Gavroche by one arm, set him on the roof of the shanty, whose worm-eaten planks bent beneath the urchin"s weight, and handed him the rope which Brujon had knotted together during Montparna.s.se"s absence. The gamin directed his steps towards the flue, which it was easy to enter, thanks to a large crack which touched the roof. At the moment when he was on the point of ascending, Thenardier, who saw life and safety approaching, bent over the edge of the wall; the first light of dawn struck white upon his brow dripping with sweat, upon his livid cheek-bones, his sharp and savage nose, his bristling gray beard, and Gavroche recognized him.
"Hullo! it"s my father! Oh, that won"t hinder."
And taking the rope in his teeth, he resolutely began the ascent.
He reached the summit of the hut, bestrode the old wall as though it had been a horse, and knotted the rope firmly to the upper cross-bar of the window.
A moment later, Thenardier was in the street.
As soon as he touched the pavement, as soon as he found himself out of danger, he was no longer either weary, or chilled or trembling; the terrible things from which he had escaped vanished like smoke, all that strange and ferocious mind awoke once more, and stood erect and free, ready to march onward.
These were this man"s first words:--