"Well, yes, kekçaa?"
This is another word belonging to the language which nobody reads and everybody speaks; kekçaa signifies, qu'est-ce-que cela a? The gamin's profound remark brought Montparnasse back to calmness and good sense: he seemed to entertain a better opinion of Gavroche's lodgings.
"Ah, yes," he said, "the 'elephant.' Are you comfortable there?"
"Very," Gavroche replied. "Most comfortable. There are no draughts as there are under the bridges."
"How do you get in? Is there a hole?"
"Of course there is, but you have no need to mention it; it's between the front legs, and the police-spies don't know it."
"And you climb in? yes, I understand."
"A turn of the hand, cric crac, it's done; and there's no one to be seen."
After a pause Gavroche added,—
"I shall have a ladder for these young ones."