"Yes, my best beloved cousin, Iron Jaws it is; let me give you a good shake of the hand."

"Not too hard!" said Schwann, plaintively.

"You are not glad to see your old friend, then?"

"Not so; but you are so strong that you hurt people without knowing it.

But where are all the rest of you?"

"Oh! they are coming on. I did not want to hurry Brelion and Bechette."

"What! Have you those two animals yet?"

"To be sure. Why not? They don't look their age."

"And your wife?"

Gudel, or Iron Jaws, as he was called, hesitated a moment.

"Things are going smoothly there, I hope," said the innkeeper, with a wink.

"Well! We will talk of something else, if you please!"

"Oh! women, women! you have much to answer for!" sighed the innkeeper.

"I was happy enough with my first wife, though, and Caillette is her very image."

"She must be a big girl, now, it is five years since I saw her."

"And she is nearly sixteen. An angel without wings!"

"How does she get on with your wife?"

"Oh! Roulante can't endure her!"

Schwann shook his head.

"Ah! my lad, you made a great mistake. I felt it when you told me that you were about to marry the giantess. She had something about her eyes I didn't like. She doesn't ill-treat Caillette, I hope?"

"Not if I know it!" answered Gudel, clenching his enormous fist. "Just let her lay a finger on the girl, that is all!"

"You need not get so excited. And now about Bobichel--how is he?"

"Just the same as ever, honest and stupid."

"And Robeccal?"

"I mean to get rid of him for reasons of my own."

"And the little boy?"

Gudel shouted with laughter.

"The little boy! Just wait until you see him. He is six feet, and a treasure. I am strong, but Fanfar is different from me. He has wrists and ankles like a woman, with the hands of a d.u.c.h.ess, but his back and shoulders are iron and his fingers steel. He is, moreover, as good and gentle as possible."

"You love him as much as ever, I see."

The excellent Gudel opened his mouth to speak, when with loud fife and horn, the wagon that held all his worldly possessions rattled up to the door.

We will call the vehicle a chariot, as it is more complimentary than the t.i.tle of wagon. Four huge wheels held the body of this vehicle, from which rose posts striped like barbers' poles, decorated with parti-colored curtains.

Underneath the chariot hung all sorts of queer looking things--kegs of wine, rope, ladders, baskets, and hoops with torn covers of rose colored tissue paper.

Bobichel must be mentioned first, as he stands on one of the shafts and blows a long horn. The clown is dressed all in yellow with a gray hat.

His legs looked like matches in their striped hose. His head was small and pointed, his nose very long and very sharp.

Behind Bobichel sits Caillette, Gudel's daughter, a pretty, dainty creature with light hair. She turned with a merry laugh to say something to a third person, who lay on a pile of bundles of all shapes and sizes, and smiled back upon the young girl. Still further back was a huge ma.s.s which might be supposed to be a woman, from the tawny locks that floated over the shoulders, and if out of curiosity one examined more closely, a large face with pendant cheeks was discovered, a retreating forehead, a pair of small, half closed eyes. A double, or rather a triple chin, rested on an enormous bosom, which seemed to have torn half the b.u.t.tons from a much spotted cloth waist. This charming being was known as La Roulante, in which sobriquet was lost her real name of Charlotte Magnan.

She was also the lawful wife of Gudel.

And finally, to complete this hurried description, we must mention a person who followed the chariot on foot. He was short, slender and bow legged, very pale, and had light eyes without lashes. His scanty hair, as white as an albino's, escaped from a vizorless hat. His costume was much like his appearance; a well worn velvet coat, much too short in the sleeves, and long fingered hands, with one peculiarity, that the thumbs were as long as the fore fingers.

"Ah! you have come, children, have you?" cried Gudel. "And I am thankful, for hunger gnaws my vitals."

"And mine, too," Bobichel replied, throwing a somersault as he spoke; which he ended with a sudden leap on the shoulders of the good Schwann, who stood the shock with wonderful philosophy.

But at the third shout he decided to go outside. When the giantess saw him, she called out, angrily:

"Are you coming to help me?"

Gudel looked on with concentrated rage, and as Robeccal went toward the chariot, he said to him:

"Not another step!"

"Indeed! And who will prevent me?"

Gudel's eyes flashed.

"Scoundrel!" he muttered under his breath.

"Well! are you coming?" called La Roulante. "Give him a push and come on!"

These words encouraged the fellow, but as he moved toward the chariot Iron Jaws struck him a tremendous blow in the chest. Robeccal pulled out a knife and leaped on Gudel, but was caught by Fanfar and tossed in the air as if he had been a ball. The fellow landed nearly at the side of the giantess, who tumbled herself off the chariot and rushed upon Fanfar. Schwann appeared at the door at this moment.

"Dinner is ready, good people," he said, soothingly.

Robeccal said a few words in a whisper to the giantess, who shrugged her huge shoulders and made at once to the dining-room. Gudel held out his arms to his daughter.

"Jump, child!" he said.