in four days--the
sun on the Rigi, the farce of William Tell--and Bompard's inventions
seemed to him all the more probable because in every Tarasconese the
braggart is leashed with a gull.

"_Differemment_, my good friend, how do you explain certain awful
catastrophes... that of the Matterhorn, for instance?.."

"It is sixteen years since that happened; the Company was not then
constituted, Monsieur Tartarin."

"But last year, the accident on the Wetterhorn, two guides buried with
their travellers!.."

"Must, sometimes, _te, pardi!_.. you understand... whets the
Alpinists... The English won't come to mountains now where heads are not
broke... The Wetterhorn had been running down for some time, but after
that little item in the papers the receipts went up at once."

"Then the two guides?.."

"They are just as safe as the travellers; only they are kept out of
sight, supported in foreign parts, for six months... A puff like that
costs dear, but the Company is rich enough to afford it."

"Listen to me, Gonzague..."

Tartarin had risen, one hand on Bompard's shoulder.

"You would not wish to have any misfortune happen to me, _que?_.. Well,
then! speak to me frankly... you know my capacities as an Alpinist; they
are moderate."

"Very moderate, that's true."

"Do you think, nevertheless, that I could, without too much danger,
undertake the ascension of the Jungfrau?"

"I 'll answer for it, my head in the fire, Monsieur Tartarin... You have
only to trust to your guide, _ve!_"

"And if I turn giddy?"

"Shut your eyes."

"And if I slip?"

"Let yourself go... just as they do on the stage... sort of
trap-doors... there 's no risk..."

"Ah! if I could have you there to tell me all that, to keep repeating it
to me... Look here, my good fellow, make an effort, and come with me."

Bompard desired nothing better, _pecaire!_ but he had those Peruvians on
his hands for the rest of the season; and, replying to his old friend,
who expressed surprise at seeing him accept the functions of a courier,
a subaltern,--

"I could n't help myself, Monsieur Tartarin," he said. "It is in our
engagement. The Company has the right to employ us as it pleases."

On which he began to count upon his fingers his varied avatars during
the last three years... guide in the Oberland, performer on the Alpine
horn, chamois-hunter, veteran soldier of Charles X., Protestant pastor
on the heights...

"_Ques aco?_" demanded Tartarin, asto