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今日推荐：《喀尔巴阡古堡，牛博士》 作者：王勋;纪飞。搜索书名开始观看吧～

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下篇牛博士PartⅡDr.OX
Raoul, instead of slowly raising the curtain, tears it apart with a superb gesture and finds himself confronting Valentine.
At last! It is the grand duet, and it starts off allegro viace. Raoul does not wait for Valentine to plead, and Valentine does not wait for Raoul to respond.
The fine passage beginning, "Danger is passing, time is flying," becomes one of those rapid airs which have made Offenbach famous, whenever he composes a dance for any conspirators whatever. The andante amoroso, "Thou hast said it, aye, thou lovest me," becomes a real vivace furioso, and the violinccllo ceases to imitate the inflections of the singer"s voice, as indicated in the composer"s score. In vain Raoul cries, "Speak on, and prolong the ineffable slumber of my soul." Valentine cannot "prolong." It is clear that an unaccustomed fire is devouring her. Her high notes, those above the sstave, become dreadfully shrill. She struggles, she gesticulates, she seems to be on fire.
The alarm is heard; the bell resounds; but what a furious bell; The bell-ringer has clearly lost his self-control. It is a frightful toscin, which struggles violently against the fury of the orchestra.
Finally the stretto which ends this magnificent act, beginning, "No more love, no more intoxication, O the remorse that oppresses me!" which the composer marks allegro con moto, becomes a frantic prestissimo. Anyone would think an express train were whirling by. The alarm resounds again. Valentine falls in a faint. Raoul hurls himself Out of the window.
It was high time. The orchestra, really intoxicated, could not have gone on. The leader"s baton is nothing now but a stick, a broken stick, on the prompter"s box. The violin strings are snapped, and the necks of the Violins are twisted. In his fury the drummer has burst his drum. The counter-bassist has perched on the top of his sonorous monster. The first clarionet has swallowed the reed of his instrument, and the second hautboy is chewing his keys. The groove of the trombone is strained, and finally the unhappy horn-player cannot withdraw his and from the bell of his horn, into which he has thrust it too far.
And the audience! The audience, panting, and over-heated, gesticulates and howls. All their faces are as red as if a fire were burning within their bodies. They crowd each other, hustle each other to get out-the men without their hats, the women without their cloaks. They elbow each other in the corridors, crush each other between the doors, quarrel, fight! There are no longer any officials, any burgomaster. All are equal amid this infernal frenzy!
A few seconds later, when they have reached the street, each resumes his habitual tranquillity, and peaceably enters his house, with only a confused remembrance of What he has just experienced.
The fourth act of the Huguenots, Which formerly lasted six hours, began, on this evening at half-past four, and ended at twelve minutes to five.
It had only lasted eighteen minutes!
第八章
【导读】
观众回到家后又恢复到了往日的宁静，但感觉累得要命。
第二天，人们回忆起头天晚上的举动，都感到羞愧。镇长醒后怎么也找不到假发，他躺在床上，反复想着昨晚发生的事，与在牛博士家发生的事联系起来，他想弄清使镇里头面人物兴奋的原因，为什么所有人都疯了？是音乐中藏着什么？还是吃了什么东西？
事后镇长决定对此事进行调查，但没查出结果，居民们又回到了原来的宁静之中。但在不知不觉中个性和脾气也发生了一些变化：他们在家中，还和以前一样宁静；可一到了公共场所——在镇公所、学院、政务会议上，甚至教堂时都会产生激烈的争论。回到家中人们就将这些争论抛到了脑后。
高级警官帕索夫注意到了这种情况，但他没办法使人们和情绪缓和下来。
一次在银行家科拉荷家的聚会中，人们一改往日的单调乏味的气氛，像是被一种神秘的气氛所包围。舞曲的节奏也加快了，舞伴间的距离也拉近了，每个人都像打了兴奋剂一样，完全没那以前那种庄重、严肃的样子。事后人们好像都忘了那晚的情景，但塔塔尼芒斯怎么也忘不了高级警官深情的目光。
In Which The Solemn Old German Waltz Becomes A Whirlwind
But if the spectators, on leaving the theatre, regained their usual calm, if they quietly went home, preserving only a brief sensation of bewilderment, they had none the less undergone a remarkable excitement. Worn out, and as weary as if they had been overeating, they fell heavily upon their beds.
Next day each Quiquendonian had a vague recollection of what had happened the evening before. One missed his hat, lost in the hubbub; another a coat-flap, torn in the brawl; one her delicatelyshaped shoe, another her best cloak. Memory returned to these worthy people, and with it a certain shame for their unjustifiable excitement, It now felt like an orgy in which they had unconsciously taken part. They did not speak of it; they did not wish even to think of it.
But the most astounded personage in the town was Van Tricasse the burgomaster. Next morning, on waking, he could not find his wig. Lotchè looked everywhere for it in vain. The wig had stayed on the field of battle. As for having it publicly claimed by Jean Minstrol, the town-crier-no, that wouldn"t do. Better to lose the wig than to advertise himself in this way-he who had the honour to be the first magistrate of Quiquendone!
The worthy Van Tricasse stretched out between his sheets, with bruised body, heavy head, furred tongue, and burning breast, was also thinking things over. He felt no desire to get up; on the contrary; and his brain worked more that morning than it had done during the last forty years. The worthy magistrate recalled all the incidents of the incomprehensible performance. He connected them with the events which had taken place a little earlier at Doctor Ox"s reception. He tried to think out the causes of the singular excitability which, on two occasions, had broken out among the foremost citizens of the town.
"What can be going on?" he wondered. "What bewildering spirit has taken possession of my peaceable town of Quiquendone? Are we all going mad, and do we have to make the town one mental home? For yesterday we were all there, notables, counsellors, judges, lawyers, doctors, school-masters; and all, if my memory serves me, —all of us were assailed by this attack of furious madness! But what was there in that infernal music? It"s quite inexplicable! For I certainly hadn"t eaten or drunk anything which could put me into such a state. No; yesterday all I had for dinner was a slice of overdone veal, several spoonfuls of Spinach with sugar, eggs, two glasses of watered bee—that couldn"t get into my head! No! There"s something here which I can"t possibly explain, and as, after all, I am responsible for the con- duct of the citizens, I must hold an investigation."
But the investigation, though agreed upon by the municipal council, produced no result. If the facts were clear, the causes escaped the sagacity of the magistrates. Besides, peace had been restored in the public mind, and with it came forgetfulness of the strange scenes at the theatre. The newspapers avoided mentioning them, and" the account of the performance which appeared in the Quiquendone Memorial made no allusion to this behaviour on the part of the entire audience.
Meanwhile, though the town resumed its habitual phlegm, and became as Flemish as ever, it could be seen that the character and temperament of the people was in fact changing gradually. One might have said, with Dr. Dominique Custos, that "their nerves were affected."
A word of explanation. This Undoubted change only took place under certain conditions. When the Quiquendonians passed through the Streets of the town, walked in the squares or along the Vaar, they were always the cold and methodical people of old. So, too, when they stayed at home, some working with their hands and others with their heads - those not doing anything, those not thinking anything - their private life was silent, inert, vegetative as before. No quarrels, no household squabbles, no acceleration in the beating of the heart, no excitement of the brain. Their aver- age pulse-rate remained as if had always been, from fifty to fifty-two per minute.
But, strange and inexplicable phenomenon though it was, which would have defied the sagacity of the most ingenious physiologists of the time, if the inhabitants of Quiquendone did not change in their home life, they were visibly changed in their civil life and in their public relations.
Did they meet in some public edifice? If so, did not "work well," as Commissary Passauf put it. On change, at the town-hall, in the amphitheatre of the Academy, at the sessions of the council, as well as at the discussions of the savants, a strange excitement seized upon all present. At the end of an hour they were on bad terms. In two hours the discussion degenerated into an angry dispute. Heads became heated, and personalities were exchanged. Even at church, during the sermon, the faithful could not listen patiently to Van Stabel, the minister, and he threw himself about in the pulpit and lectured his flock with far more than his usual severity. At last this state of things brought about altercations more grave, alas! than that between Custos and Schut, and if they did not require the interference of the authorities, it was because the antagonists, after returning home, found there, in its peace, forgetfulness of the offences given and taken.
This remarkable fact could not be observed by those concerned; they were absolutely incapable of recognising what was happening to them. One person alone in the town, he whose office the council had thought of suppressing for thirty years, Michael Passauf, had noticed that this excitement, which was absent from private houses, appeared at once in the public buildings; and he asked himself, not without a certain anxiety, what would happen if this infection should ever develop itself within the family mansions, and if he epidemic- this was the word he used—should extend through the streets of the town. Then there would be no more forgetfulness of insults, no more tranquillity, no break in the delirium; but a permanent inflammation, which would inevitably bring the Quiquendonians into collision.
"What would happen then?" Commissary Passauf asked himself in terror. "How could this wild fury be checked? How to soothe these goaded temperaments? My office would be no longer a sinecure, and the council would have to double my salary- unless it should arrest me myself, for disturbing the public peace!"
These very reasonable fears began to be realised. The-infection spread from change, the theatre, the church, the town-hall, the academy, the market, into the dwelling houses, and that in less than a fortnight after that terrible performance of the Huguenots.
Its first symptoms appeared in the house of Collaert, the banker.
That wealthy personage was holding a ball, or at least a dancing party, for the notabilities of the town. He had issued, some months before, a loan of thirty thousand francs, three quarters of which had been subscribed; and, to celebrate this financial success, he had opened his drawing-rooms, and given a party to his fellow-citizens.
Everybody knows that Flemish parties are innocent and tranquil enough, the principal expense of which is usually in beer and fruit drinks. Some conversation on the weather, the look of the crops, the fine condition of the gardens, the Care of the flowers, and especially of the tulips; a slow and measured dance from time to time, perhaps a minuets; sometimes a waltz, but one of those German waltzes which achieve a turn and a half per minute, and during which the dancers hold each other as far apart as their arms will permit, such is the usual type of the balls attended by the aristocratic society of Quiquendone. The polka, after being altered to four time, had tried to become accustomed to it; but the dancers always lagged behind the orchestra, no matter how slow the measure, and it had to be abandoned.
These peaceable reunions, in which the youths and maidens enjoyed an honest and moderate pleasure, had never been attended by any outburst of ill-nature. Why, then, on this evening at Collaert the banker"s, did the fruit drinks seem to be transformed into heady wines, into sparkling champagne, into red-hot punches? Why, towards the middle of the evening did a sort of mysterious intoxication take possession of the guests? Why did the minuet become a jig? Why did the orchestra hurry on with its harmonies? Why did. the candles, those at the theatre, burn with unwonted refulgence? What electric current had invaded the banker"s drawingrooms? How did it happen that the couples held each other so closely, and clasped each other"s hands so convulsively, that the cavaliers seuls made themselves conspicuous by certain extraordinary steps in that pastoral, normally so grave, so solemn, so majestic, so very proper?
Alas! What Oedipus could have answered these unsolvable questions? Commissary Passaul, who was present at the party, saw the storm coming distinctly, but he could not control it or fly from it, and he felt a kind of intoxication entering his own brain. All his physical and emotional faculties increased in intensity. He was seen several times, to throw himself upon the confectionery and devour the food, as if he had just broken a long fast.
The liveliness of the ball kept on increasing. A long murmur, like a dull buzzing, escaped from every chest. They danced - really danced. The feet twinkled with increasing frenzy. The faces became as purple as those of Silenus. The eyes shone like carbuncles. The general intoxication rose to the highest pitch.
And when the orchestra thundered out the waltz in Der Freyschutz - when this waltz, so German, and with so slow a movement, was attacked with wild arms by the musicians—ah! it was no longer a waltz, it was an insensate whirlwind, a giddy rotation, a gyration worthy of being led by some Mephistopheles, beating time with a fire-brand! Then a gallop, an infernal gallop, which lasted an hour wit-bout anybody"s being able to stop it, whirled off, in its windings, across the halls, the drawingrooms, the ante-chambers, up and down the staircases, from the cellar to the garret of the wealthy mansion, the young men and young. girls, the fathers and mothers, people of every age, of every weight, of both sexes: Collaert, the fat banker, and Mevrouw Collaert, and the counsellors, and the magistrates, and the chief justice, and Niklausse, and Mevrouw Van Tricasse, and the Burgomaster Van Tricasse, and the Commissary Passauf himself, who never could recall afterwards who had been his partner on that intoxicated evening. But she did not forget! And ever since that day she had seen in her dreams the fiery commissary, enfolding her in an impassioned embrace! And "she"- was the amiable Tatanemance!
第九章
【导读】
管道铺好了，一切准备就绪，牛博士要大规模地开始行动了。
In Which Doctor Ox And His AssistantYgene Exchange A Fe, Words
"Well, Ygene?"
"Well, sir, it"s all ready. The laying of the pipes is finished."
"At last! Now, then, we"re going to operate on a large scale, on the masses!"
第十章
【导读】
在接下来的几个月中，小镇发生了很大的变化，植物和动物都出现了异常现象。现在的蔬菜和水果长得越来越大；花儿也大得惊人，但很快就枯萎了。猫、狗也显得凶恶起来，马咬起了嚼子，牛也学会了顶架，绵羊也勇敢地在人的刀下逃生了。
学校的学生开始叛逆，教师们也布置大量的作业，并实行惩罚制度。人们喝得醉醺醺的，在街上乱窜，医生的门前排起了长队。
婚事的速度也加快了，校长的儿子求婚仅五十七天就将奥古蒂娜·罗维尔的女儿娶进了家门，镇长的女儿苏泽儿开始一步步地跳出父亲的掌控，塔塔尼芒斯则大方地问高级警官帕索夫是否愿意娶她。
弗朗兹和银行家的儿子西蒙·科拉荷也因镇长的女儿苏泽儿准备进行决斗。
In Which It Will Be Seen That The Epidemic Invades The Entire Town, And What Effect It Produces
During the following months the evil, instead of subsiding, did nothing else but get worse. From private houses the epidemic spread into the streets. The town of Quiquendone could no longer be recognised.
A phenomenon yet stranger than those already noticed had now appeared; not only the animal kingdom but the vegetable kingdom itself became subject to this mysterious influence.
In the ordinary course of things, epidemics are limited in their operation. Those which attack humanity spare the animals, and those which attack the animals spare the vegetables. A horse has never been seen infected with small-pox, nor a man with the cowpest, nor do sheep suffer from the potato-rot. But here all the laws of nature seemed to be overturned. Not only were the character, temperament, and ideas of the townsfolk changed, but the domestic animals—dogs and cats, horses and cows, asses and goats—fell under the influence of this epidemic, as if their habitual equilibrium had been changed. The very plants themselves were infected by a similar strange-metamorphosis.
In the gardens and market-gardens and orchards strange symptoms appeared. Climbing plants climbed more audaciously than ever. Tufted plants became more tufted than ever. Shrubs became trees. Cereals, scarcely sown, showed their little green heads, and grew, in the same length of time, as much in inches as formerly, under the most favourable circumstances, they would have grown in fractions of an inch. Asparagus reached the height of several feet; the artichokes swelled to the size of melons, the melons to the size of pumpkins, the pumpkins to the Size of gourds, the gourds to the size of the church bell, which measured—my word—nine feet in diameter. The cabbages were bushes, and the mushrooms umbrellas.
The fruits did not lag behind the vegetables. It took two to eat a strawberry, and four to eat a pear. The grapes too, attained the enormous proportions of those so well depicted by Poussin in his-Return of the Envoys to the Promised Land.
It was the same with the flowers: immense violets spread the most penetrating perfumes through the air; exaggerated roses shone with the brightest colours; within a few days lilies formed impenetrable copses; geraniums, daisies, camelias, rhododendrons, invaded the garden walks, and stifled One another. And the tulips- those lovely blooms so dear to the Flemish heart - what emotion they must have aroused in their lovers! The worthy VanBistrom nearly fell over backwards one day, on seeing in his garden an enormous Tulipa gesneriana, a monster, whose cup formed a nest for a whole family of robins!
The entire town flocked to see this phenomenonal flower, and endowed it with the name of the Tulipa Quitluendonia.
But alas! If these plants, these, fruits, these flowers, grew visibly to the naked eye, if all the vegetables insisted on assuming colossal proportions, if the brilliancy of their colours and perfume intoxicated the smell and the sight, they quickly withered. The air which they absorbed rapidly exhausted them, and they soon died, wilted, faded, and dried up.
Such was the fate of the famous tulip, which, after several days" splendour, became emaciated, and fell lifeless.
It was soon the same with the domestic animals, from the housedog to the pig in its sty, from the canary in its cage to the turkey in the poultry-yard. In normal times, it must be stressed these animals were no less phlegmatic than their masters. The dogs and cats vegetated rather than lived. They never gave a wriggle of pleasure or a snarl of wrath. Their tails moved no more than if they had been made of bronze. Such a thing as a bite or scratch had not been known from time immemorial. As for mad dogs, they were looked upon as imaginary beasts, like the griffins and those in the menagerie of the Apocalypse.
But what a change had taken place in a few months, the smallest incidents of which are recorded here! Dogs and cats began to show teeth and claws. Several had had to be punished for repeated offences. A horse was seen, for the first time, to take its bit between its teeth and rush through the streets of Quiquendone; an ox was observed to dash itself, with lowered horns, upon one of its fellows; an ass to seen to turn itself upside down, its legs in the air, in the Place Saint Ernuph, and to bray as it never brayed before; a sheep- yes, a sheep-valiantly defended its own cutlets from the butcher"s knife.
Van Tricasse, the burgomaster, was forced to make police regulations concerning the domestic animals, as seized with madness, they made the streets of Ouiquendone unsafe..
But alas! If the animals were mad, the men were scarcely less insane. No age was spared by the scourge. Babies hitherto so easy to bring up, soon became quite insupportable; and for the first time Honore Syntax, the judge, had to apply the rod to his youthful offspring.
There was a kind of insurrection at the high school, and the dictionaries described formidable trajectories in the class-rooms. The scholars would not submit to being kept in, and anyhow the infection spread to the teachers themselves, making them overwhelm the boys and girls with preposterous tasks and punishments.
Another phenomenon! All these Quiquendonians, so sober before, whose chief food had been whipped Creams, committed wild excesses in their eating and drinking. Their usual diet no longer satisfied them. Each stomach was transformed into a gulf, and this gulf had to be filled by the most energetic means. The food consumption of the town was trebled. Instead of two meals there were six. Many cases of indigestion were reported. The Counsellor Niklausse could not satisfy his hunger. Van Tricasse found it impossible to assuage his thirst, and remained in a state of rabid semiintoxication.
In short, the most alarming symptoms appeared and increased from day to day. Drunken people staggered in the Streets, and these were often citizens of high position.
Dominique Custos, the physician, had plenty to do with the heartburns, inflammations, and nervous affections, which proved to what a strange degree the nerve of the people had been irritated.
There were daily quarrels, brawls in the Streets of Ouiquendone, streets once deserted but now crowded; for nobody could any longer stay at home. A new police force had to be enlisted to control the disturbers of the public peace. A prison cell was built in the Town Hall, and it soon became full, night and day, with recalcitrants. Commissary Passauf was in despair.
A marriage was concluded in less than two months-such a thing had never been seen before. Yes, the son of Rupp, the schoolmaster, married the daughter of Augustine de Revere, and that only fiftyseven days after he had begged for her hand and heart!
Other marriages were decided upon, which, in old times, would have remained in doubt and discussion for years. The burgomaster realized that his own daughter, the charming Suzel, was escaping from his hands.
As for dear Tatanemance, she had dared to sound Commissary Passauf on the subject of a union, which seemed to her to combine every element of happiness, fortune, honour, youth!
At last - to reach the depths of abomination—a duel took place I Yes, a duel with pistols - horse-pistols- at twenty-five paces, with ball-cartridges. And between whom? Our readers will never believe!
Between Frantz Niklausse, the gentle angler, and young Simon Collaert, the wealthy banker"s son.
And the cause of this duel was the burgomaster"s daughter, for whom Simon had found himself to be fired with passion, and whom he refused to yield to the claims of an audacious rival!
第十一章
【导读】
魁宽东人变了，变得好斗了，镇长也变得经常斥责他的手下，他家里也乱了套。镇长夫人变得任性、刁钻和刻薄起来。她嫌洛谢做事太慢，对塔塔尼芒斯也不留情面，而对镇长吵起来更是没完没了。
原因不明的兴奋使一些人的才干发挥了出来，政界和文艺界不断有新人出现。一些演说家提出要拆掉快要倒塌的塔楼，另一些人表示反对。
在蒙特勒莱的一家俱乐部，好斗的演说家舒特又提起了一八一五年相邻的弗盖门镇的一头牛闯到了魁宽东的领土上吃起草，这是对魁宽东的攻击和侮辱，认为要向弗盖门人的后代索取赔款。这番话引起了大家热烈的掌声，在场的人包括镇长和顾问都表示要到前线去。
这时，药剂师若斯·莱昂曲克提醒大家没有武器，也没将军指挥。镇长站出来指出，他优柔寡断、胆小如鼠。镇长宣布，这次战斗胜利后的荣誉将不低于罗马时代将军的荣誉。
这时，药剂师指出，只有歼敌五千人才能获得荣誉，而弗盖门小镇只有三千多人，全部杀完也不够。
他的话还没说完，便被人们推出去打了一顿。这时，有人表示要杀敌五千五百个，有人表示要杀六千六；甜点师吕埃表示要杀敌七千人，最后，吕埃成了魁宽东军队的总指挥。
In Which The Quiquendonians Make An Heroic Resolution
We have seen to what a deplorable state the people of Quiquendone were reduced. Their heads were in a ferment. They no longer knew or recognised themselves. The most peaceable citizens had become quarrelsome. If you looked at them askance, they would speedily send you a challenge. Some let their moustaches grow, and several - the most belligerent - turned them up at the ends.
This being their condition, the administration of the town and the maintenance of order in the streets became very difficult, for the government had not been organised for such a state of things. The burgomaster- that worthy Van Tricasse whom we have seen, so placid, so dull, so incapable of coming to any decisionthe burgomaster was in a continual temper. His house resounded with the sharpness of his voice. He made twenty decisions a day. scolding his officials, and himself enforcing the regulations of his administration.
Ah, what a change! The amiable and tranquil mansion of the burgomaster, that good Flemish home- where was its former calm? What changes had taken place in your household economy! Mevrouw Van Tricasse had become acrid, whimsical, harsh. Her husband sometimes succeeded in drowning her voice by talking louder than she, but he could not silence her. The petulant humour of this worthy dame was excited by everything. Nothing went right. The servants offended her every moment. Everything was late. She accused Lotchè and even Tatanemance, her sister-in-law, who, not less irritable, replied as sharply to her. Mijnheer Van Tricasse naturally supported Lotchè, his servant, as happens in every good household; hence the permanently exasperation: Mevrouw Burgomaster who Constantly disputed, discussed, and made endless scenes with her husband.
"What on earth is the matter with us?" cried the unhappy burgomaster. "What is this fire that keeps devouring us? Are we possessed with the devil? Ah, Mevrouw Van Tricasse, Mevrouw Van Triasse, you"ll end by making me die before you, and thus violate all the traditions of the family!"
The reader will not have forgotten the strange custom by which M. Van Tricasse would become a widower and marry again, so as not to break the chain of descent.
Meanwhile, this general disposition of all minds produced other strange and noteworthy effects. This excitement, the cause of which has so far escaped us, brought about unexpected physiological changes. Talents, hitherto unrecognised appeared in the crowd. Aptitudes were suddenly developed. Artists, hitherto second-rate, displayed a new ability. New figures appeared in the would of politics as in that of letters. Orators proved themselves equal to the most arduous debates, and on every question they inflamed audiences who were quite ready to be inflamed. From the sessions of the council, this movement spread to the public political meetings, and a club was formed at Quiquendone; whilst twenty newspapers, the Quiquendone Signal, the Quiquendone Impartial, the Quiquendone Radical, the Quiquendone Extremist, and so on, written in an inflammatory style, raised the most important social questions.
But what about? you will ask. About anything and nothing; about the Oudenarde tower, which was falling, and which some wished to pull down, and others to prop up; about the police regulations issued by the council, which some hot-heads threatened to resist; about sweeping the gutters, repairing the sewers, and so on. Nor did the fiery orators confine themselves to the internal administration of the town. Carried On by the current they went further, and tought to plunge their fellow-citizens into the hazards of war.
Quiquendone had had for eight or nine hundred years a casus belli of the best quality; but she had hitherto laid it up like a holy relic, and there had seemed some probability that it would fade away and no longer be effective.
This was its origin.
It is not generally known that Quiquendone, in this cosy corner of Flanders, lies next to the little town of Virgamen. The territories of the two communities are contiguous.
Well, in 1185, some time before Count Baldwin"s departure to the Crusades, a Virgamenian cow— not a cow belonging to a citizen, but a cow which was Communal property, let it be borne in mind -audaciously ventured to graze on Quiquendonian territory. This unfortunate beast had scarcely eaten three mouthfuls; but the offence, the trespass, the crimecall it what you will - was committed and duly indicted, for the magistrates, at that time, had already begun to know how to write.
We"ll take revenge at the proper time" was the only comment of simply Natalis Van Tricasse, the thirty-second predecesso of the burgomaster of this story, "and the Virgamenians will lose nothing by waiting."
The Virgamenian had been warned. They waited thinking, not unreasonably, that the remembrance of the offence would fade away with the lapse of time; and really, for several centuries, they had lived on good terms with their neighbours of Quiquendone.
But they counted without their hosts, or rather without this strange epidemic, which, radically changing the character of the Quiquendonians, aroused their dormant vengeance.
It was at the caub in Monstrelet Street that the truculent orator, Schut, abruptly introducing the subject to his audience, inflamed them with the expressions and metaphors used on such occasions. He recalled the offence, the injury Which had been done to Quiquendone, and which a nation "jealous of its rights" could not admit as a precedent; he showed the insult to be still existing, the wound still bleeding; he spoke of certain special nods made by the people of Virgamen, which indicated in what degree of contempt they regarded those of Quiquendone; he appealed to his fellowcitizens, who, unconsciously perhaps, had sup ported this mortal insult for long contaries; he adjured the "children of the ancient town" to have no other purpose than to obtain a substantial reparation. And, lastly, he made an appeal to "all the living energies of the nation!"
With what enthusiasm these words, so new to Ouiquendonian ears, were greeted, may be sunnised, but Cannot be told. All the auditors rose, their arms upraised, and demanded war with loud cries. Never had the lawyer Sehut achieved such a success.
The burgomaster, the couhsellor, all the notabilities present at this meeting, would have in vain attempted to resist the popular outburst. But they-never wished to do so, and they cried as loud, if not louder, than the others;
"To the frontier! To the frontier!"
As the frontier was only two miles from the Walls of Quiquendone, the Virgamenians certainly ran a real danger, for they might easily be invaded without having had time to look about them.
Meanwhile, Josse Liefrinck, the worthy chemist, who alone had preserved his senses on this grave occasion, tried to make his fellow citizens comprehend that they lacked rifles, cannon, and generals.
They replied to him, not without many impatient gestures, that these generals, these cannons, these rifles and guns would be improvised; that the justice and love of country were enough to render a people irresistible.
Hereupon the burgomaster himself came forward, and in a sublime harangue made short work of those pusillanimous people who disguise their fear under a veil of prudence, which veil he tore off with a patriotic hand.
At this it seemed as if the hall would fall in with the applause.
A vote was eagerly demanded, and was taken amid acclamations.
The cries of "To Virgamen! to Virgamen! redoubled.
The burgomaster then took it upon himself to mobilise the armies and in the name of the town he promised the honours of a triumph, such as was given in the times of the Romans to its victorious generals.
Meanwhile, Josse Iiefrinck, an obstinate fellow who did not regard himself as beaten, though he really had been, insisted on making another comment. He pointed out that at Rome the triumph was only accorded to those victorious generals who had killed five thousand of the enemy.
"Well, what about it?" came the cry.
"And as the population of the town of Virgamen consists of only three thousand five hundred and seventy-five inhabitants, it would be difficult, unless the same person was killed several times—"
But they did not let the luckless logician finish, and he was turned out, hustled and bruised.
"Citizens," said Pulmacher in normal times a retail grocer, "Whatever this cowardly apothecary may have said I"ll undertake to kill five thousand Vigamenians, if you"ll accept my services!"
"Five thousand five hundred !" cried a yet more resolute patriot.
"Six thousand six hundred!" retorted the grocer.
"Seven thousand!" cried Jean Ordideck, the confectioner of the Rue Hemling, who was on the road to a fortune through making whipped creams.