eleventh time you've caught him at night and missed him in the
morning."

"How could I help it? I never saw such a debtor! he's a locomotive;
goes to sleep in Paris and wakes up in the Seine-et-Oise. A safety
lock I call him." Seeing a smile on Gaillard's face he added: "That's
a saying in our business. Pinch a man, means arrest him, lock him up.
The criminal police have another term. Vidoeq said to his man, 'You
are served'; that's funnier, for it means the guillotine."

A nudge from Bixiou made Gazonal all eyes and ears.

"Does monsieur grease my paws?" asked Fromenteau of Gaillard, in a
threatening but cool tone.

"'A question that of fifty centimes'" (Les Saltimbauques), replied the
editor, taking out five francs and offering them to Fromenteau.

"And the rapscallions?" said the man.

"What rapscallions?" asked Gaillard.

"Those I employ," replied Fromenteau calmly.

"Is there a lower depth still?" asked Bixiou.

"Yes, monsieur," said the spy. "Some people give us information
without knowing they do so, and without getting paid for it. I put
fools and ninnies below rapscallions."