CROSSING PARIS
549
The two men went back to the plg.
As
they walked along,
Jamblier murmured:
"I'm still wondering if I hadn't better postpone the thing."
"I tell you, I'll answer for everything."
Martin's face was hard and determined. The boss made a short
gesture, as if he were throwing the dice, and, with a sigh, acquiesced.
They set themselves to fit the sections of pork into the valises. They
weighed them carefully on outstretched hands, they nodded their
heads in agreement as they passed them from one to the other, anxious
to divide the burden fairly. After having put them in place, they
wedged them in with crumpled newspapers. The ram, who showed
no interest in the oper.ation, was standing before a wall cupboard,
below which hung a ham and a sausage. With a stroke of his knife
he cut the string of the sausage, which he tucked into the inside
pocket of his jacket. After which he cut a big thick slice of ham,
and sat down on a chest to eat it. Martin was making speed with
his packing job, but he did not lose sight of his strange helper, whose
every gesture now seemed to him to be an insult and a provocation.
The valises ready, Grandgil came to get his without being
summoned. This willingness made a good impression on the pro–
prietor and seemed to him to augur well for the success of the ex–
pedition. At the moment of their leaving the cellar, he stuck a
package of cigarettes
in
the pocket of the ram, and seeing that
Martin was red in the face and mad as a hornet, he hastened to add:
"That's for the two of you, during the trip."
"Cigarettes at night," sneered Martin, "a good way to get our–
selves run in."
J amblier walked ahead of the two valise carriers toward the
door. He had the key of the cellar in his hand. Instead of following,
Grandgil put one of the valises down and announced:
"I have to have two thousand francs more."
This time, J amblier felt himself wickedly betrayed. He had
always believed in virtue, though admitting that it depended on
circumstances. Like everybody else, he knew that men are fond
enough of virtue to insert it at the very heart of their evil deeds,
and to b.ase their wicked actions firmly on the highest principles. In
every dirty trick, especially in the ones he himself played, he was
capable of discerning some element of good, or at least a good inten-
