ting towards Gringalet as near as his chain
permitted him, as though he meant to devour him."

"Poor Gringalet! How ever will he be able to escape? If that beast of a
monkey once gets hold of him he is safe to strangle him! I declare,"
exclaimed the man in the blue cap, "the very thoughts of a poor innocent
child being in such a dangerous situation makes me shiver from head to
foot, and I seem as though I couldn't hurt a worm. How do you feel, good
friends?"

"The very same!" replied a burst of voices. "No more could we!"

At this moment the prison clock chimed forth the first quarter past
three, and the Skeleton, becoming momentarily more and more apprehensive
that the time would slip away without their being able to accomplish
their design, and furious at the continued interruptions, as well as
irritated at the evident sympathy and compassion awakened in the
breasts of the prisoners by Pique-Vinaigre's recital, called out in
angry voice:

"Silence in the stone jug, I say! We shall never get to the end of this
unlucky history if you persist in chiming in."

The buzz of voices died away at these words, and Pique-Vinaigre thus
continued:

"When it is recollected how much poor little Gringalet had had to endure
before he could get used to his tortoise, and that even the boldest of
his companions trembled and turned pale even at the mention of
Gargousse's name, it may very easily be imagined what deadly terror he
experienced when he found himself placed by his master within the reach
of the horrible monkey. 'Oh, master, master!' he cried, as his teeth
rattled and shook in his head, as though he were under the influence of
an ague fit, 'pray--pray forgive me! Pray have mercy on me! I will never
do so any more. Indeed, indeed, I never will! Oh, I promise you, master;
only let me off this time, and I will never do so again!' But all these
prayers and supplications escaped almost unconsciously from the poor
child, who had indeed committed no fault that called for such promises.
Cut-in-Half, however, laughed at the boy's terrors, and, spite of the
struggles and resistance of the unhappy child, he dragged him within the
grasp of Gargousse, who sprang upon him, and seized him with a savage
grasp."

A cry of execration passed throughout the assembly, which had been
listening with the profoundest attention to the progress of the tale.

"I should have been a rare fool had I gone away," said the officer on
duty, as he drew