rds the laundress, who
took hold of her basket and held it in front of her so as to keep him
at a distance. Goujet, annoyed and seeing that his comrade was joking
because of his friendship for Gervaise, called out to him:

"I say, lazybones, what about the forty millimetre bolts? Do you
think you're equal to them now that you've got your gullet full, you
confounded guzzler?"

The blacksmith was alluding to an order for big bolts which necessitated
two beaters at the anvil.

"I'm ready to start at this moment, big baby!" replied Salted-Mouth,
otherwise Drink-without-Thirst. "It sucks it's thumb and thinks itself a
man. In spite of your size I'm equal to you!"

"Yes, that's it, at once. Look sharp and off we go!"

"Right you are, my boy!"

They taunted each other, stimulated by Gervaise's presence. Goujet
placed the pieces of iron that had been cut beforehand in the fire, then
he fixed a tool-hole of large bore on an anvil. His comrade had taken
from against the wall two sledge-hammers weighing twenty pounds each,
the two big sisters of the factory whom the workers called Fifine and
Dedele. And he continued to brag, talking of a half-gross of rivets
which he had forged for the Dunkirk lighthouse, regular jewels, things
to be put in a museum, they were so daintily finished off. Hang it all,
no! he did not fear competition; before meeting with another chap like
him, you might search every factory in the capital. They were going to
have a laugh; they would see what they would see.

"Madame will be judge," said he, turning towards the young woman.

"Enough chattering," cried Goujet. "Now then, Zouzou, show your muscle!
It's not hot enough, my lad."

But Salted-Mouth, otherwise Drink-without-Thirst, asked: "So we strike
together?"

"Not a bit of it! each his own bolt, my friend!"

This statement operated as a damper, and Goujet's comrade, on hearing
it, remained speechless, in spite of his boasting. Bolts of forty
millimetres fashioned by one man had never before been seen; the more so
as the bolts were to be round-headed, a work of great difficulty, a real
masterpiece to achieve.

The three other workmen came over, leaving their jobs, to watch. A tall,
lean one wagered a bottle of wine that Goujet would be beaten. Meanwhile
the two blacksmiths had chosen their sledge hammers with eyes closed,
because Fifine weighed a half pound more than Dedele. Salted-Mouth,
otherwise Drink-without-Thirst, had the good luck to