They would hide behind a bush, wait until someone came by and, on whatever pretext they could think up-La Fontaine was good at doing that in his fables-they would jump on him and rob him.
On se cache derrière un bosquet, on attend que quelqu'un passe, et là, sous n'importe quel prétexte-La Fontaine était fort là-dessus dans ses fables-on saute dessus et on le dépouille.