Here this man was joined by a second, who walked with the same caution, then by a third, then by a fourth.
When these men were re-united, one of them lifted the latch of the gate in the fence, and all four entered the enclosure in which the shanty stood.
They halted directly under Thenardier. These men had evidently chosen this vacant space in order that they might consult without being seen by the passers-by or by the sentinel who guards the wicket of La Force a few paces distant. It must be added, that the rain kept this sentinel blocked in his box.
Thenardier, not being able to distinguish their visages, lent an ear to their words with the desperate attention of a wretch who feels himself lost.
Thenardier saw something resembling a gleam of hope flash before his eyes,--these men conversed in slang.
The first said in a low but distinct voice:--
"Let''s cut.
What are we up to here?"
The second replied:
"It''s raining hard enough to put out the very devil''s fire.
And the bobbies will be along instanter. There''s a soldier on guard yonder.
We shall get nabbed here."
These two words, icigo and icicaille, both of which mean ici, and which belong, the first to the slang of the barriers, the second to the slang of the Temple, were flashes of light for Thenardier. By the icigo he recognized Brujon, who was a prowler of the barriers, by the icicaille he knew Babet, who, among his other trades, had been an old-clothes broker at the Temple.