which it had coiled itself, I took it by the tail, I whirled it like a
sling and I crushed its head on the trunk of a guava tree. I examined
myself; I had a thigh ripped open and an arm broken; I bound the wound
in my thigh with fresh leaves and secured them by a vine. As to my left
arm, it was broken between the elbow and the wrist. I cut three little
sticks and a long creeper and I tied it up like a roll of tobacco. Once
my wounds dressed, I sought for my servant, for I could not see him. I
called him, there was no answer. My dogs were crouched at my feet; they
appeared so innocent, the cunning creatures! and looked at me as they
wagged their tails as if nothing was wrong. Finally I arose, and what
should I see at twenty paces distance but the remains of my servant. I
recognized his powder-horn and the sheath of his knife. That was all
that remained of him, I tell you this to prove to you that my dogs are
very snappish and well-trained; for they will not injure a hair on the
bull's skin.'"

"There, there! the buccaneer exceeds the filibuster," said Croustillac.
"I can only say that Blue Beard is greatly to be pitied for not having
had, up to this time, but an alternative of two such brutes." And the
Gascon continued compassionately, "It is very easy to understand, this
poor woman has not an idea of what constitutes a gentleman; when one has
all one's life fed on lard and beans, one cannot conceive of anything as
fine, as delicate as a pheasant or an ortolan. Zounds! I see it has been
reserved to me to enlighten Blue Beard on a variety of things, and to
discover to her a new world. As to the Caribbean, is he worthy of
figuring at the side of his ferocious rivals?"

"Oh, as to the Caribbean," said one of the passengers, "I can speak from
knowledge. I made this winter in his canoe the journey from Anse aux
Sable to Marie-Galande. I was pressed to reach this latter place. The
Riviere des Saints had overflowed, and I was compelled to make a great
circuit in order to find a place which could be forded. At the moment
when I embarked, I saw at the prow of the boat of Youmaeale a kind of
brown figure. I drew near; what did I see? My God! the head and arms
dried to that of a mummy, forming the figurehead as an ornament for his
canoe! We started on our voyage, the Caribbean silent, like the savage
that he was, paddled without uttering a word. Arriving off the Caribbean
Island, where a Spanish brigantine had stranded some months