"Over there--under the shed--a great big beast all covered with hair--on the straw--with a black head and a red mane; he"s bigger"n our donkey!
He"s a horrid-looking thing!"
"Can you make anything of all that?" Bertrand asked his wife.
"They said something about a big beast, goodman."
"_Morgue!_ there"s only us in the house; how could it get in? Perhaps it"s neighbor Gervais"s bull, or Dame Catherine"s donkey."
"No, papa, no; it"s all gray and red. Oh! it"s awful-looking!"
"The devil! what does it mean?"
"Has it got any tail?" inquired Claudine.
"I don"t know "bout that, mamma; he looked as if he was asleep, and we ran right away."
"You must go and see what it is, goodman."
"Yes, yes; I must go and see."
But Bertrand, who was not naturally brave, had already begun to quake, and, as a matter of prudence, went to get his gun, which was loaded with salt. Claudine took a broom, the children seized sticks, and they marched toward the shed. The little ones went first, because at that age, although frightened, a child delights in anything out of the ordinary, and the slightest event is a pleasure. Bertrand walked beside his wife, who kept pushing him to make him go ahead. The nearer they came to the shed, the more slowly they walked; they had ordered the children to make no noise, because it was better to view the beast asleep than awake.
At last they stood in front of the little building, and the children said, their voices trembling with fear and excitement:
"There--look, in there!"
Bertrand and Claudine thrust their heads forward, saw the horrifying object, and dared not advance; the husband turned pale and drew closer to his wife, who motioned to the children not to go any nearer.
"Let"s go and call help," said Bertrand at last, in a choking voice.
"S"pose you fire at it, goodman."
"I guess not! my gun"s only loaded with salt; that wouldn"t kill him, but would just wake him up, and he"d be mad and go for us."
"Ah! you"re right, you mustn"t fire; let"s run to the village. Come, children. Great G.o.d! I hope he won"t wake up!"
Bertrand had already started; he ran, as if the beast were after him, to the village, which was only a gunshot from his house, and he was soon joined by Claudine. They both told everybody they met what they had found in their garden. As fear always magnifies objects, the beast they had seen became as large as a bull; and as events are always exaggerated by pa.s.sing from mouth to mouth, because everyone adds a little to what he hears, the beast was transformed from a bull to a camel, then into a lion, then into an elephant; nor would it have stopped there if they had been able to think of any larger animal.
The one undoubted fact was that there was an extraordinary creature in Bertrand"s garden, and in a moment that news had put the whole village in a ferment. The people a.s.sembled, and took counsel together; the women went to fetch their husbands from the fields, and the mothers brought their little ones into the house and forbade them to go out. They called on the mayor, who, like his const.i.tuents, was an honest peasant, and who declared that he knew no more about beasts than did the other inhabitants of his bailiwick. But there was a certain Latouche in the village, who had once been a customs clerk at the barrier in Paris, and who set up for a wit, a joker, and a scholar. They hunted up Latouche, who was at work on a process of making preserves without sugar, and told him of the event which had upset the equilibrium of the whole village.
Latouche listened gravely, pa.s.sed his hand under his chin, required every detail to be repeated several times, made a pretence of reflecting long and profoundly, and said at last:
"We must go and see what it is."
"That is true, he"s quite right," said all those who heard him; "let"s go and see the beast."
"When I have seen it," said Latouche, "I will tell you at once what it is, and to what genus it belongs; I ought to know about such things; I studied botany once, and my cousin was under-porter at the Museum of Natural History."
The whole village made ready to visit Bertrand"s garden. Everyone took such weapon as he could find; even the women took hoes or rakes, because the beast might be dangerous. The mayor joined the villagers, and Latouche, who was the only man in the place who had a gun in working order,--for Bertrand"s would carry nothing heavier than salt,--Latouche undertook to lead the march and to direct all the operations that were to take place.
They left the village; men, women, boys, and girls plodded along, discussing the adventure. But the nearer they came to Bertrand"s house, the less inclined they were to talk; and soon, as a result of the general terror, the silence became general. They marched in closer order, and everyone tried to gather courage from the glance of his neighbor.
Latouche walked ahead, with his gun over his shoulder, arranging his forces as if it were a matter of surprising a hostile camp. As they drew near the garden hedge, Bertrand uttered an exclamation and dodged behind a large rock.
"There it is!" he cried.
Instantly the whole body of peasants executed a retrograde movement, and Latouche darted into the centre of his battalion; but soon, hearing no sound, they moved forward again, looking for the object which had frightened Bertrand. It was a red cat, which had glided under the hedge.
"Morbleu! Bertrand," said Latouche, hastily resuming his place as leader, "do you know that you"re terribly chicken-hearted? it"s shameful for a man of your years to have so little courage!"
"Yes, that"s true enough," said Claudine; "he ain"t brave a bit, and I often tell him so."
"The idea of calling out and spreading an alarm just for a cat!"
"_Dame!_ Monsieur Latouche, I saw something crawling, and I thought----"
"Perhaps it was some foolish thing like that that made him turn the whole village upside down, and interrupt the chemical experiment I was making."
"Oh, no! that wasn"t anything foolish! you"ll soon see that it was worth the trouble; here we are, close to the shed; just go through this little gate and you"ll be right there."
"No; let"s go in by the house, and examine the creature first at a distance."
Latouche"s advice was followed: they went through Bertrand"s house into the garden. As they approached the shed, the bravest turned pale, several women dared not go any farther, and Latouche, who resembled those persons who sing to dissemble their fear, issued precautionary orders on this side and that, but found an excuse for abandoning his position at the head of the procession.
"There it is! there it is!" exclaimed several of the villagers, pointing to Dubourg, who was still in the same position, because he was in a heavy sleep. Terror was depicted on every face, but it was blended with curiosity; everyone stretched out his neck, or stooped forward, or leaned against his neighbor. Latouche instantly ordered a halt, and one could hear on all sides:
"Oh! what a horrid beast! oh! how ugly! What a head! what a body! I can"t see any eyes. No, nor any paws."
"Hush! hush!" said Latouche; "don"t talk so loud, you may wake him up.
Wait till I examine him. Neighbors, did you ever hear of the famous beast that ravaged Gevaudan?"
"No, no!" said the villagers.
"Well, this one looks to me very much like him. You don"t see this monster"s feet, because he has them folded under him, like the Turks; as for his eyes, they are turned toward the straw, luckily for us; for the eyes of such creatures often emit a deadly poison. The more I look at that skin and that mane--yes, it"s a sea-lion, that must have found its way here from Normandie."
"A sea-lion!" repeated the peasants; "are they ugly?"
"Parbleu! they eat a man as if he was an oyster."
"Oh! mon Dieu! What shall we do? how shall we catch him?"
"Perhaps he"s dead," said Claudine; "he ain"t changed his position since this morning."
"Dead? where"s the man who"ll go and find out?"
"What if you should give him a shot?" suggested the mayor.
"To fire at him is taking a great risk; the bullet often glances off of their skin."