night was fully come, nothing made its appearance. all that they heard was confused noises, and at intervals, fusillades; but these were rare, badly sustained and distant. this respite, which was thus prolonged, was a sign that the government was taking its time, and collecting its forces. these fifty men were waiting for sixty thousand.

enjolras felt attacked by that impatience which seizes on strong souls on the threshold of redoubtable events. he went in search of gavroche, who had set to making cartridges in the tap-room, by the dubious light of two candles placed on the counter by way of precaution, on account of the powder which was scattered on the tables. these two candles cast no gleam outside. the insurgents had, moreover, taken pains not to have any light in the upper stories.

gavroche was deeply preoccupied at that moment, but not precisely with his cartridges. the man of the rue des billettes had just entered the tap-room and had seated himself at the table which was the least lighted. a musket of large model had fallen to his share, and he held it between his legs. gavroche, who had been, up to that moment, distracted by a hundred "amusing" things, had not even seen this man.

when he entered, gavroche followed him mechanically with his eyes, admiring his gun; then, all at once, when the man was seated, the street urchin sprang to his feet. any one who had spied upon that man up to that moment, would have seen that he was observing everything in the barricade and in the band of insurgents, with singular attention; but, from the moment when he had entered this room, he had fallen into a sort of brown study, and no longer seemed to see anything that was going on. the gamin approached this pensive personage, and began to step around him on tiptoe, as one walks in the vicinity of a person whom one is afraid of waking. at the same time, over his childish countenance which was, at once so impudent and so serious, so giddy and so profound, so gay and so heart-breaking, passed all those grimaces of an old man which signify: ah bah! impossible! my sight is bad! i am dreaming! can this be? no, it is not! but yes! why, no! etc. gavroche balanced on his heels, clenched both fists in his pockets, moved his neck around like a bird, expended in a gigantic pout all the sagacity of his lower lip. he was astounded, uncertain, incredulous, convinced, dazzled. he had the mien of the chief of the eunuchs in the slave mart, discovering a venus among the blowsy females, and the air of an amateur recognizing a raphael in a heap of daubs. his whole being was at work, the instinct which scents out, and the intelligence which combines. it was evident that a great event had happened in gavroche's life.

it was at the most intense point of this preoccupation that enjolras accosted him.

"you are small," said enjolras, "you will not be seen. go out of the barricade, slip along close to the houses, skirmish about a bit in the streets, and come back and tell me what is going on."

gavroche raised himself on his haunches.

"so the little chaps are good for something! that's very lucky! i'll go! in the meanwhile, trust to the little fellows, and distrust the big ones." and gavroche, raising his head and lowering his voice, added, as he indicated the man of the rue des billettes: "do you see that big fellow there?"

"well?"

"he's a police spy."

"are you sure of it?"

"it isn't two weeks since he pulled me off the cornice of the port royal, where i was taking the air, by my ear."

enjolras hastily quitted the urchin and murmured a few words in a very low tone to a longshoreman from the winedocks who chanced to be at hand. the man left the room, and returned almost immediately, accompanied by three others. the four men, four porters with broad shoulders, went and placed themselves without doing anything to attract his attention, behind the table on which the man of the rue des billettes was leaning with his elbows. they were evidently ready to hurl themselves upon him.

then enjolras approached the man and demanded of him:--

"who are you?"

at this abrupt query, the man started. he plunged his gaze deep into enjolras' clear eyes and appeared to grasp the latter's meaning. he smiled with a smile than which nothing more disdainful, more energetic, and more resolute could be seen in the world, and replied with haughty gravity:--

"i see what it is. well, yes!"

"you are a police spy?"

"i am an agent of the authorities."

"and your name?"

"javert."

enjolras made a sign to the four men. in the twinkling of an eye, before javert had time to turn round, he was collared, thrown down, pinioned and searched.

they found on him a little round card pasted between two pieces of glass, and bearing on one side the arms of france, engraved, and with this motto: supervision and vigilance, and on the other this note: "javert, inspector of police, aged fifty-two," and the signature of the prefect of police of that day, m. gisquet.

besides this, he had his watch and his purse, which contained several gold pieces. they left him his purse and his watch. under the watch, at the bottom of his fob, they felt and seized a paper in an envelope, which enjolras unfolded, and on which he read these five lines, written in the very hand of the prefect of police:--

"as soon as his political mission is accomplished, inspector javert will make sure, by special supervision, whether it is true that the malefactors have instituted intrigues on the right bank of the seine, near the jena bridge."

the search ended, they lifted javert to his feet, bound his arms behind his back, and fastened him to that celebrated post in the middle of the room which had formerly given the wine-shop its name.

gavroche, who had looked on at the whole of this scene and had approved of everything with a silent toss of his head, stepped up to javert and said to him:--

"it's the mouse who has caught the cat."

all this was so rapidly executed, that it was all over when those about the wine-shop noticed it.

javert had not uttered a single cry.

at the sight of javert bound to the post, courfeyrac, bossuet, joly, combeferre, and the men scattered over the two barricades came running up.

javert, with his back to the post, and so surrounded with ropes that he could not make a movement, raised his head with the intrepid serenity of the man who has never lied.

"he is a police spy," said enjolras.

and turning to javert: "you will be shot ten minutes before the barricade is taken."

javert replied in his most imperious tone:--

"why not at once?"

"we are saving our powder."

"then finish the business with a blow from a knife."

"spy," said the handsome enjolras, "we are judges and not assassins."

then he called gavroche:--

"here you! go about your business! do what i told you!"

"i'm going!" cried gavroche.

and halting as he was on the point of setting out:--

"by the way, you will give me his gun!" and he added: "i leave you the musician, but i want the clarionet."

the gamin made the military salute and passed gayly through the opening in the large barricade.

天已完全黑了，还没有发生任何事。人们只听到一些隐隐约约的鼓噪声，有时也听到远处传来的一些有气无力的零散枪声。这种漫长的沉寂状态说明政府正在从容不迫地集结力量。这五十个人在等待六万人。

在这时，正如那些面临险境性格顽强的人那样，安灼拉感到自己有些急躁。他走去找伽弗洛什，伽弗洛什正在楼下厅堂里的微弱烛光下做枪弹，那些桌子上都撒满了火药，为了安全，只在柜台上放两支蜡烛。烛光一点也不会照到外面。起义的人已注意不在楼上点灯。

伽弗洛什这时心神不定，并不完全是为那些枪弹。

来自皮埃特街的那个人刚走进厅堂，他走去坐在烛光最暗的那张桌子旁边，两腿夹着一支大型的军用步枪。伽弗洛什在这以前，一心想着种种“好玩的”事，一点没有注意那个人。

他走进来时，伽弗洛什的眼光机械地落在他的那支步枪上，心里好生羡慕，随后，当那人坐下去时，这野孩突然立了起来。如果有人在这以前侦察过那人的行动，便早已发现他曾以一种奇特的注意力察看过整个街垒和每一个起义的人。但自从他进入厅堂以后，他又好象陷入一种冥思苦想的状态，全不注意发生在他四周的事了。这野孩踮着脚走近那个潜心思索的人，绕着他兜圈子，怕惊醒了他似的。这时，在他那张既顽皮又严肃、既放肆又深沉、既高兴又担忧的孩儿脸上，出现了老人的种种奇形丑态，意思是说：“怎么！”“不可能吧！”“我眼花了吧！”“我在做梦吧！”“难道这会是个……”“不，不会的！”“肯定是的！”“肯定不是！”等等。伽弗洛什立在脚跟上左右摇晃，把两个拳头捏紧在他的衣袋里，象只小鸟似的转动着脑袋，用他下嘴唇表现的全部机敏做了一个其丑无比的撇嘴丑脸。他愣住了，没有把握，有所怀疑，有把握了，乐极了。他当时的神态就象一个阉奴总管在奴隶市场的大肚皮女人堆中发现一个维纳斯，在劣等油画堆中识别一幅拉斐尔真迹的鉴赏家。他全部的嗅觉和运筹的才智都活跃起来了。很明显，伽弗洛什正面临一件大事。

当安灼拉走来找他时，他正处在这种紧张状态的顶点。

“你个子小，”安灼拉说，“不容易被发现。你到街垒外面去走一趟，沿着房屋的墙壁溜到街上各处去看看，回头再来把外面的情况告诉我。”

伽弗洛什把两手叉在胯上，挺起胸膛说：

“小人儿也会有用处！这太好了！我这就去。可是，你信得过小人，也还得提防大人……”同时，伽弗洛什抬起头，瞄着皮埃特街上的那个人，低声说道：

“你看见那个大个子吗？”

“怎么呢？”

“那是个特务。”

“你有把握？”

“还不到半个月，我在王家桥石栏杆上乘凉，揪我耳朵把我从栏杆顶上提下来的便是他。”

安灼拉立即离开了那野孩，旁边正有一个酒码头的工人，他以极小的声音对那工人说了几句话。工人便走出厅堂，立即又领着三个人转回来。这四个人，四个宽肩大汉，绝不惊动那个来自皮埃特街的人，走去立在他的后面，那人仍以肘弯靠在桌上，坐着不动。那四个人显然是准备好了要向他扑上去的。

这时安灼拉走向那人，问他说：

“你是什么人？”

那人，经他这样突如其来地一问，大吃一惊。他把他的目光直射到安灼拉坦率的眸子底里，并显出他已猜出对方的思想。他面带笑容，那种极其傲慢坚定有力的笑容，以倨傲沉着的声音回答说：

“我懂了是怎么回事……要怎样便怎样吧！”

“你是暗探吗？”

“我是公职人员。”

“你叫什么名字？”

“沙威。”

安灼拉对那四个人递了个眼色。一眨眼，沙威还没有来得及转过头去望一眼，他已被揪住衣领，按倒在地，用绳索绑了起来，身上也被搜查了。

从他身上搜出一张粘在两片玻璃中间的小圆卡片，一面印有铜版雕刻的法兰西国徽和这样的铭文：“视察和警惕”；另一面有这些记载：沙威，警务侦察员，五十二岁；还有当时警署署长的签字“m．吉斯凯”。

另外，他有一只表和一个钱包，包里有几个金币。表和钱包都还给了他。在那表的下面口袋底里，摸出一张装在信封里的纸。安灼拉展开来看，上面有警署署长亲笔写的这几行字：

政治任务完毕以后，沙威侦察员应立即执行特殊任务，前往耶拿桥附近调查是否确有匪群在塞纳河右岸岸边进行活动。

搜查完毕以后，他们让沙威立起来，把他的两条臂膀反绑在背后，捆在厅堂中间当年酒店据以命名的那根有名的木柱上。

伽弗洛什目击这一切经过，他一直没有吭声，只暗暗点头表示赞许，这时，他走近沙威，对他说：

“这回是小老鼠逮着了猫儿。”

这件事办得非常迅速，直到完事以后，酒店四周的人才知道。沙威一声也没有叫喊。听说沙威已被绑在木柱上，古费拉克、博须埃、若李、公白飞以及散在两个街垒里的人都跑来看。

沙威背靠着木柱，身上缠了无数道绳子，一点也动弹不得，带着从不说谎的人那种无畏而泰然自若的神气，他昂着头。

“这是个特务。”安灼拉说。

又转过去对着沙威说：

“你将在这街垒攻陷以前两分钟被枪毙。”

沙威以极其大胆的语调回答说：

“为什么不立即动手？”

“我们要节省弹药。”

“那么，给我一刀子也就完了。”

“特务，”俊美的安灼拉说，“我们是法官，不是凶手。”

接着，他喊伽弗洛什。

“你！快去干你的事！照我刚才对你说的去干。”

“我这就去。”伽弗洛什大声说。

正要走时，他又停下来说：

“我说，你们得把他的步枪给我！”他还加上一句，“我把这音乐家留给你们，但是我要那单簧管。”

野孩行了个军礼，高高兴兴地从那大街垒的缺口跨出去了。