X THE SPHEX OF LANGUEDOC 133 



allow one to profit by the chance offered. More- 

 over, such chances come only to one who looks out 

 for them, watches for days and days, — here on sandy 

 slopes exposed to the burning sun, there in the 

 cauldron of some path enclosed by high banks, or 

 on some shelf of sandstone, the solidity of which is 

 not always such as to inspire confidence. If it be 

 granted you to set up your observatory under the 

 scanty shade of an olive that you may think will 

 shelter you from a pitiless sun, then bless the fate which 

 is treating you like a sybarite ; your lot is in Eden. 

 Above all — keep a sharp lookout. The spot is 

 promising, and who knows ? Any moment the 

 chance may come. 



It has come ! tardily, it is true, but it has come. 

 Ah 1 could one but observe now, in the peace of one's 

 study, isolated, absorbed, thinking only of what one 

 is studying, far from the profane passer-by who will 

 stop, seeing you so preoccupied where he sees 

 nothing, will overwhelm you with questions and take 

 you for a diviner of springs with the magic hazel 

 wand, or worse, as a doubtful character, seeking by 

 incantations old pots full of money hidden under- 

 ground. Even if you seem to him to have the look of 

 a Christian, he will come near, look at what you are 

 looking at, and smile in a fashion which leaves no 

 possible doubt as to his humble opinion of people 

 who spend their time in watching flies. You would 

 only be too happy if this annoying visitor would 

 depart, laughing in his sleeve, but without disturbing 

 everything and repeating the disaster caused by the 

 soles of my two conscripts. 



Or if it is not the passer-by who is perplexed by 



