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Never in the memory of living man had the like been seen. Hence our dauntless cap-poppers looked at one another how proudly! What a beaming on their sunburned visages! and in every nook of Costecalde's shop what hearty congratulatory grips of the hand were silently exchanged! The sensation was so great and unforeseen that nobody could find a word to say not even Tartarin.
Finally, so long as Mitaine's wild beast show tarried in Tarascon, the cap-poppers who were belated at Costecalde's might spy in the shadow of the booth, as they crossed the Castle-green, a mysterious figure stalking up and down. It was Tartarin of Tarascon, habituating himself to hear without emotion the roarings of the lion in the sombre night. X. Before the Start.
In the club-rooms or on the esplanade, they accosted poor Tartarin with bantering mien: "And furthermore, when is that trip coming off?" In Costecalde's shop, his opinions gained no credence, for the cap-poppers renounced their chief! Next, epigrams dropped into the affair.
Behold the brave Commandant Bravida, Costecalde the armourer, the Chief Judge, the chemist, and the whole noble corps of cap-poppers, who pressed around their leader, and carried him in triumph out through the passages. Singular effects of the mirage! the hide of the blind lion sent to Bravida was the cause of all this riot.
Between three and four daily, at Costecalde the gunsmith's, a stout stern pipe-smoker might be seen in a green leather-covered arm-chair in the centre of the shop crammed with cap-poppers, they all on foot and wrangling. This was Tartarin of Tarascon delivering judgement Nimrod plus Solomon. III. "Naw, naw, naw!" The general glance protracted upon the good town.
The articles were named in a loud voice: "That there's the shelter-tent; these the potted meats; that's the physic-chest; these the gun-cases," the cap-poppers giving explanations. All of a sudden, about ten o'clock, there was a great stir in the multitude, for the garden gate banged open. "Here he is! here he is!" they shouted. It was he indeed.
In the midst of all this throng, the cap-poppers bustled to and fro, proud of their captain's triumph, leaving glorious wakes where they had passed. In front of the Indian fig-tree house were two large trucks. From time to time the door would open, and allow several persons to be spied, gravely lounging about the little garden. At every new box the throng started and trembled.
All Tarascon appeared unto him: the club, the cap-poppers, Costecalde's green arm-chair, and, hovering over all like a spread eagle, the imposing moustaches of brave Commandant Bravida. At seeing himself here, as he was, cowardly lolling on a mat, whilst his friends believed him slaughtering wild beasts, Tartarin of Tarascon was ashamed of himself, and could have wept had he not been a hero.
In a moment's time, when all the cap-poppers, some little fortified by his bearing and the strength of the bars, re-approached their leader, they heard him mutter, as he stared Leo out of countenance: "Now, this is something like a hunt!" All the rest of that day, never a word farther could they draw from Tartarin of Tarascon. IX. Singular effects of Mental Mirage.
At first he sniffed; then he growled hollowly, stretching out his claws; rising, he tossed his head, shook his mane, opened a capacious maw, and belched a deafening roar at Tartarin. A yell of fright responded, as Tarascon precipitated itself madly towards the exit, women and children, lightermen, cap-poppers, even the brave Commandant Bravida himself.
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