but
still very ill-dressed, walked beside him. He carried on his
shoulders a bass-viol, and as he stooped a little in
walking, one might, at a distance, have taken him for a
large tortoise walking on its hind legs. Some critic may
perhaps murmur at this comparison; but I am speaking of the
big tortoises they have in the Indies, and besides I use it
at my own risk. Let us return to our caravan.

It passed in front of the tennis-court called the Doe, at
the door of which were gathered a number of the topping
citizens of the town. The novel appearance of the conveyance
and team, and the noise of the mob who had gathered round
the cart, induced these honourable burgomasters to cast an
eye upon the strangers; and among others a Deputy-Provost
named La Rappiniere came up, accosted them, and, with the
authority of a magistrate, asked who they were. The young
man of whom I have just spoken replied, and without touching
his turban (inasmuch as with one of his hands he held his
gun and with the other the hilt of his sword, lest it should
get between his legs) told the Provost that they were French
by birth, actors by profession, that his stage-name was Le
Destin, that of his old comrade La Rancune, and that of the
lady who was perched like a hen on the top of their baggage,
La Caverne. This odd name made some of the company laugh;
whereat the young actor added that it ought not to seem
stranger to men with their wits about them than "La
Montagne," "La Vallee," "La Rose," or "L'Epine." The talk
was interrupted by certain sounds of blows and oaths which
were heard from the front of the cart. It was the
tennis-court attendant, who had struck the carter without
warning, because the oxen and the mare were making too free
with a heap of hay which lay before the door. The row was
stopped, and the mistress of the court, who was fonder of
plays than of sermons or vespers, gave leave, with a
generosity unheard of in her kind, to the carter to bait his
beasts to their fill. He accepted her offer, and, while the
beasts ate, the author rested for a time, and set to work to
think what he should say in the next chapter.

The sally in the last sentence, with the other about the tortoise, and
the mock solemnity of the opening, illustrate two special
character