"Yes; exactly; why did he not revenge himself in that way?" said Nicholas.
"What good would that have done him?" said another.
"Why, to do harm because others harmed him!"
"No! I can comprehend why the poor little kid liked to save the flies,"
answered Blue Cap. "He thought, perhaps, "Who knows that some one will not save me in the same way?""
"Pal, you"re right," cried Pique-Vinaigre; "you have read in your heart what I was about to explain to the honorable company. Gringalet was not malicious; he saw no further than the end of his nose; but he said to himself, "Cut-in-half is my spider; perhaps one day somebody will do for me what I do for the flies; they will break up his web, and s.n.a.t.c.h me from his claws." For until then, on no account would he have dared to run away from his master; he would have thought himself stone dead. Yet, one day, when neither he nor his turtle had had any luck, and they had only earned two or three sous, Cut-in-half began to whip the child so hard, so hard, that, hang it! Gringalet could stand it no longer. Tired of being the b.u.t.t and martyr of everybody, he watched the moment when the trap-door of the garret was open, and while the padrone was feeding his beasts, he slipped down the ladder."
"Hooray! so much the better!" said a prisoner.
"But why did he not go and complain to the Alderman?" said Blue Cap; "he would have given Cut-in-half his token!"
"Yes, but he did not dare; he was too much afraid, he preferred to run away. Unfortunately, Cut-in-half had seen him; he caught him by the throat, and carried him back to the garret; this time Gringalet, thinking of what he had to expect, shuddered from head to foot, for he was not at the end of his troubles. Speaking of the troubles of Gringalet, it is necessary that I should tell you of Gargousse, the favorite ape. This wicked animal was larger than Gringalet; judge what a size for an ape! Now I am going to tell you why they did not lead him as a show through the streets, like the other beasts of the menagerie; it was because Gargousse was so wicked and so strong that, among all the children, there was only one, Auvergnat, fourteen years old, a resolute fellow, who, after having several times collared and fought with Gargousse, had succeeded in mastering him, and leading him by a chain; and even then, there were often battles between them, and b.l.o.o.d.y ones too, you may bet! Tired of this, the little Auvergnat said one day, "Well, well, I will revenge myself on you, you lubberly baboon!" So one morning he set off with his beast as usual; to decoy him he bought a sheep"s heart. While Gargousse was eating, he pa.s.sed a cord through the end of his chain, and fastened it to a tree; and when he had the scoundrel of an ape once tied fast, he poured on him such a torrent of blows! a torrent that fire could not have extinguished."
"Good boy!"
"Bravo! Auvergnat!"
"Hit him again, he"s got no friends."
"Break his back for him, the rascally Gargousse," said the prisoners.
"And he did lay it on with a good heart," answered Pique-Vinaigre. "You should have heard how Gargousse yelled, seen how he gnashed his teeth, jumped, danced here and there; but Auvergnat trimmed him up with his club, saying, "Do you like it? then here is some more!" Unfortunately, apes are like cats, they have nine lives. Gargousse was as cunning as he was wicked.
When he saw, as I may say, what kind of wood was burning for him, at the very thickest moment of the torrent, he cut a last caper, fell flat down at the foot of the tree, kicked a moment, and then shammed dead, not budging any more than a log. The Auvergnat wished nothing more; believing the ape done for, he cleared out, never to put his feet in Cut-in-half"s drum again. But the vagabond Gargousse watched him out of the corner of his eye, all wounded as he was, and as soon as he saw himself alone and Auvergnat at a distance, he gnawed the cord with his teeth. The Boulevard Monceau, where he had had his dance, was very near Little Poland; the ape knew the road as well as he did his prayers. He slowly went off then, crawling along, and arrived at his master"s, who swore and foamed to see his pet ape thus served out. But this is not all; from that moment Gargousse had preserved such furious spite against all children in general, that Cut-in-half, though not very tender-hearted, had not dared to let any of them lead him out, for fear of an accident; for Gargousse would have been capable of strangling or devouring a child, and the little fellows would rather have allowed themselves to be slashed by their master than approach the ape."
"I must most decidedly go and eat my soup," said the keeper, making a movement toward the door; "Pique-Vinaigre would make the birds come down from the trees to hear him. I do not know wherever he has fished up this story."
"At length the keeper is off," whispered Skeleton to the Cripple; "I am in a fever, so much do I burn. Only attend to making the ring around the spy, I"ll take care of the rest."
"Be good boys," said the keeper, going toward the door.
"Good as pictures," answered Skeleton, drawing near Germain, while the Big Cripple and Nicholas, at a concerted signal, made two steps in the same direction.
"Oh! respectable warder, you are going away at the finest moment," said Pique-Yinaigre, with an air of reproach.
Except for the Cripple, who prevented his movement by seizing his arm, Skeleton would have sprung upon Pique-Vinaigre.
"How at the finest moment?" answered the keeper, turning.
"I think so," said Pique-Vinaigre; "you do not know all you are going to lose; the most charming part of my story is about to commence."
"Do not listen to it, then," said Skeleton, with difficulty restraining his rage; "he is not in the vein to-day: I find his story abominably stupid."
"My story stupid?" cried Pique-Vinaigre, his vanity wounded; "well, keeper, I beg you, I supplicate you, to remain to the end. I have only enough to fill a good quarter of an hour; besides, your soup is cold. Now what do you risk? I will hasten on with my story, so that you may still have the time to go and eat before we go to our beds."
"Well, then, I remain, but make haste," said the keeper, drawing near.
"And you are right to remain, for, without boasting, you have never heard anything like it--above all, the conclusion; there is the triumph of the ape and of Gringalet, escorted by all the little beast conductors and inhabitants of Little Poland. My word of honor I do not say it from vanity, but it is first-cla.s.s."
"Then go on, my boy," said the keeper, coming close to the stove.
The Skeleton trembled with rage. He almost despaired of accomplishing his crime. Once the hour of repose arrived, Germain was saved; for he did not sleep in the same ward with his implacable enemy, and the next day, as we have said, he was to occupy one of the vacant cells. And, moreover, Skeleton saw, from the interruptions of several of the prisoners, that they found themselves, thanks to the story of Pique-Vinaigre, filled with ideas that softened their hearts; perhaps, then, they would not a.s.sist, with savage indifference, the accomplishment of a frightful murder, of which their presence would make them accomplices. He could prevent the patterer from finishing his story, but then his last hope vanished of seeing the keeper retire before the hour in which Germain would be in safety.
"Oh! stupid, is it?" said Pique-Vinaigre. "Well, the honorable society shall be the judge.
"There was not then an animal more wicked than the large ape Gargousse, which was, above all, as savage as his master toward children. What did Cut-in-half do to punish Gringalet for wishing to run away? That you shall know directly; in the mean time, he caught the child, shut him up in the garret, saying to him, "To-morrow morning, when all your comrades are gone, I will take hold of you, and you shall see what I do to those who wish to run away from here."
"I leave you to imagine what a horrible night Gringalet pa.s.sed. He hardly closed his eyes; he wondered what Cut-in-half would do. At length he fell asleep. But what a sleep! Then there was a dream, a frightful dream--that is to say, the beginning--you will see. He dreamed that he was one of those poor flies which he had so often saved from the spider"s web, and that he, in his turn, fell into a large and strong web, where he struggled with all his strength without being able to escape; then he saw coming toward him softly, cautiously, a kind of monster, which had the face of his master, on a spider"s body. My poor Gringalet began again to struggle, as you may imagine; but the more efforts he made, the more he was entangled in the toils, just like the poor flies. At length the spider approached--touched him--and he felt the large, cold, and hairy paws of the monster encircle him. He thought himself dead, but suddenly he heard a kind of humming noise, clear and acute, and saw a little golden gnat, which had a kind of sting as fine and brilliant as a diamond needle, flying round the spider in a furious manner, and a voice (when I say voice, just imagine the voice of a gnat!)-a voice said to him, "Poor little fly! you have saved flies; the spider shall not---"
"Unfortunately, Gringalet awoke with a start, and he saw not the end of the dream; nevertheless, he was a little comforted, saying to himself, "Perhaps the golden gnat with the diamond sting would have killed the spider if I had seen the end of the dream."
"But Gringalet had need of all this to console himself, for, as the night advanced, his fear returned so strongly that in the end he forgot his dream, or rather, he only remembered the frightful part of it; the great web where he had been entangled, and the spider with the padrone"s face.
You can judge what shiverings of alarm he must have had. Bless me! judge then, alone--all alone--with no one to take his part!
"In the morning, when he saw the light appear little by little through the garret-window, his alarm redoubled; the moment was drawing near when he would be left all alone with Cut-in-half. Then he threw himself on his knees in the middle of the garret, and weeping hot tears, he begged his companions to ask his pardon from Cut-in-half, or to a.s.sist him to escape if there was any way. Oh, yes! some from fear of the master, others from caring nothing about it, others from cruelty, refused the service which poor Gringalet demanded."
"Wicked scrubs," said the prisoner in the blue cap, "they had neither body nor soul."
"It is true," said another; "it is vexing to see this want of feeling."
"And, alone, and without defense," resumed Blue Cap; "for one who cannot stretch out his neck without wincing, it is always a pity. When one has teeth to bite, then it is different. You have tusks? Well, show them, and look for tail, my cadet."
"That is true!" said several of the prisoners.
"Come!" cried Skeleton, no longer able to restrain his rage, and addressing Blue Cap, "will you shut up? Have I not already said, "Silence in the band"? Am I, or am I not, the ruler here?"
For sole answer, Blue Cap looked him in the face, and then made a gesture, perfectly well known to street arabs, which consists in placing on the tip of the nose the thumb of the right hand, opened, and touching with the little finger the thumb of the left, also spread out like a fan. Blue Cap accompanied this mute answer with an expression so grotesque that several of the prisoners shouted with laughter, while some of the others, on the contrary, remained stupefied at the audacity of the new prisoner. Skeleton shook his fist at Blue Cap, and said, grinding his teeth, "We"ll settle this to-morrow."
"And I will make the addition on your hide. I"ll set down seventeen and carry naught."
For fear the keeper should find a new reason for remaining in order to prevent a possible quarrel, Skeleton answered calmly:
"That is not the question. I have the ruling of the hall, and I must be obeyed; is it not so, keeper?"
"It is true," said the officer. "Do not interrupt. And you, Pique-Vinaigre, go on; but make haste, my boy."
"Then," resumed Pique-Vinaigre, continuing his story, "Gringalet, seeing himself abandoned, gave himself up to his unhappy fate. Broad daylight came, and all the children prepared to depart with their beasts.
Cut-in-half opened the trap and called the roll, in order to give each one his piece of bread; all descended the ladder, and Gringalet, more dead than alive, crouching in a corner of the garret, moved no more than it did; he saw his companions going off one after the other; he would have given anything to do as they did. Finally, they were all gone. The heart of the poor child beat strongly; he hoped that, perhaps, his master would forget him. Ah, well, he heard Cut-in-half at the foot of the ladder, cry in a harsh voice: "Gringalet! Gringalet!" "Here I am, master."
""Come down at once, or I"ll fetch you," answered Cut-in-half. Gringalet thought his last day was come.
""I must," he said to himself, trembling in every limb, and remembering his dream, "now you _are_ in for it, little fly: the spider is going to eat you."
"After having placed his turtle softly on the ground, he bade him good-bye, for he had become attached to the creature, and approached the trap-door.
He placed his foot on the ladder to descend, when Cut-in-half, taking him by his poor little leg, as slender as a spindle, drew him so strongly, so harshly, that Gringalet tumbled down, and polished his face against the whole length of the ladder."