Crainquebille, Putois, Riquet and Other Profitable Tales. François-Anatole Thibault

Mort aux vaches! to you. It was not for you more than for another. It was only an idea."

      The constable replied sternly but kindly:

      "Whether an idea or anything else it ought not to be said, because when a man does his duty and endures much, he ought not to be insulted with idle words.… I tell you again to pass on."

      Crainquebille, with head bent and arms hanging limp, plunged into the rain and the darkness.

      1 ↑ It is impossible to translate this expression. As explained on p. 21, it means “down with spies," the word spies being used to indicate the police.