On reaching St. Jean market, the post at which had been disarmed
already, Gavroche proceeded "to effect his junction" with a band led
by Enjolras, Courfeyrac, Combeferre, and Feuilly. They were all more
or less armed, and Bahorel and Prouvaire had joined them, and swelled
the group. Enjolras had a double-barrelled fowling-piece, Combeferre
a National Guard's musket bearing the number of a legion, and in his
waist-belt two pistols, which his unbuttoned coat allowed to be seen;
Jean Prouvaire an old cavalry carbine, and Bahorel a rifle; Courfeyrac
brandished a sword drawn from a cane, while Feuilly with a naked sabre
in his hand walked along shouting. "Long live Poland! They reached the
Quai Morland without neck-cloths or hats, panting for breath, drenched
with rain, but with lightning in their eyes. Gavroche calmly approached
them,--
"Where are we going?"
"Come," said Courfeyrac.
Behind Feuilly marched or rather bounded Bahorel, a fish in the water
of revolt. He had a crimson waistcoat, and uttered words which smash
everything. His waistcoat upset a passer-by, who cried wildly, "Here
are the reds!"
"The reds, the reds!" Bahorel answered; "that's a funny fear, citizen.
For my part, I do not tremble at a poppy, and the little red cap does
not inspire me with any terror. Citizen, believe me, we had better
leave a fear of the red to horned cattle."
He noticed a corner wall, on which was placarded the most peaceful
piece of paper in the world, a permission to eat eggs, a Lent
mandamus addressed by the Archbishop of Paris to his "flock." Bahorel
exclaimed,--
"A flock! a polite way of saying geese." And he tore the paper down.
This conquered Gavroche, and from this moment he began studying Bahorel.
"Bahorel," Enjolras observed, "you are wrong; you should have left
that order alone, for we have nothing to do with it, and you uselessly
expended your anger. Keep your stock by you; a man does not fire out of
the ranks any more with his mind than with his gun."
"Every man has his own way, Enjolras," Bahorel replied; "the bishop's
prose offends me, and I insist on eating eggs without receiving
permission to do so. Yours is the cold burning style, while I amuse
myself; moreover, I am not expending myself, but getting the steam up,
and if I tore that order down, Hercle! it is to give me an appetite."
This word _hercle_ struck Gavroche, for he sought every opportunity of
instructing himself, and this tearing down of posters possessed his
esteem. Hence he asked,--
"What's the meaning of _hercle?_"
Bahorel answered,--
"It means cursed name of a dog in latin."
Here Bahorel noticed at a window a pale young man, with a black beard,
who was watching them pass, probably a Friend of the A. B. C He shouted
to him,--
"Quick with the cartridges, _para bellum!_"
"A handsome man [bel homme], that's true," said Gavroche, who now
comprehended Latin.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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