eats of strength, round his neck
and over his shoulders, an esclavine of leather. He took charge of the
horses. Ursus and Homo took charge of each other.

Dea, being used to the Green Box, came and went in the interior of the
wheeled house, with almost as much ease and certainty as those who saw.

The eye which could penetrate within this structure and its internal
arrangements might have perceived in a corner, fastened to the planks,
and immovable on its four wheels, the old hut of Ursus, placed on
half-pay, allowed to rust, and from thenceforth dispensed the labour of
rolling as Ursus was relieved from the labour of drawing it.

This hut, in a corner at the back, to the right of the door, served as
bedchamber and dressing-room to Ursus and Gwynplaine. It now contained
two beds. In the opposite corner was the kitchen.

The arrangement of a vessel was not more precise and concise than that
of the interior of the Green Box. Everything within it was in its
place--arranged, foreseen, and intended.

The caravan was divided into three compartments, partitioned from each
other. These communicated by open spaces without doors. A piece of stuff
fell over them, and answered the purpose of concealment. The compartment
behind belonged to the men, the compartment in front to the women; the
compartment in the middle, separating the two sexes, was the stage. The
instruments of the orchestra and the properties were kept in the
kitchen. A loft under the arch of the roof contained the scenes, and on
opening a trap-door lamps appeared, producing wonders of light.

Ursus was the poet of these magical representations; he wrote the
pieces. He had a diversity of talents; he was clever at sleight of hand.
Besides the voices he imitated, he produced all sorts of unexpected
things--shocks of light and darkness; spontaneous formations of figures
or words, as he willed, on the partition; vanishing figures in
chiaroscuro; strange things, amidst which he seemed to meditate,
unmindful of the crowd who marvelled at him.

One day Gwynplaine said to him,--

"Father, you look like a sorcerer!"

And Ursus replied,--

"Then I look, perhaps, like what I am."

The Green Box, built on a clear model of Ursus's, contained this
refinement of ingenuity--that between the fore and hind wheels the
central panel of the left side turned on hinges by the aid of chains and
pulleys, and could be let down at will like a drawbridge. As it dropped
it set at li