to me, declaring
that he would give his whole collection of specimens for such a curious
animal as I had just described. The pleasure he derived from my childish
chatter increased my vivacity, and I do not know whether I should
have been able to resist the temptation to exaggerate my uncle's
peculiarities, when suddenly at a turn in our path we found ourselves
in the presence of a tall man, poorly dressed, and terribly haggard, who
was walking towards us with a serious pensive expression, and carrying
in his hand a long naked sword, the point of which was peacefully
lowered to the ground. This individual bore such a strong resemblance
to the one I had just described to Arthur, struck by the parallel,
burst into uncontrollable laughter, and moving aside to make way for
Marcasse's double, threw himself upon the grass in a convulsive fit of
coughing.

For myself, I was far from laughing; for nothing that has a supernatural
air about it fails to produce a vivid impression even on the man most
accustomed to dangers. With staring eyes and outstretched arms we drew
near to each other, myself and he, not the shade of Marcasse, but
the venerable person himself, in flesh and blood, of the hidalgo
mole-catcher.

Petrified with astonishment when I saw what I had taken for his ghost
slowly carry his hand to the corner of his hat and raise it without
bending the fraction of an inch, I started back a yard or two; and this
movement, which Arthur thought was a joke on my part, only increased his
merriment. The weasel-hunter was by no means disconcerted; perhaps in
his judicial gravity he was thinking that this was the usual way to
greet people on the other side of the ocean.

But Arthur's laughter almost proved infectious when Marcasse said to me
with incomparable gravity:

"Monsieur Bernard, I have had the honour of searching for you for a long
time."

"For a long time, in truth, my good Marcasse," I replied, as I shook my
old friend's hand with delight. "But, tell me by what strange power I
have been lucky enough to draw you hither. In the old days you passed
for a sorcerer; is it possible that I have become one too without
knowing it?"

"I will explain all that, my dear general," answered Marcasse, who was
apparently dazzled by my captain's uniform. "If you will allow me to
accompany you I will tell you many things--many things!"

On hearing Marcasse repeat his words in a low voice, as if furnishing an
echo for himself, a h