CHAPTER XV 



THE FLEECE 



AS was agreed upon the day before, Jacques 

 made ready for the performance. To keep the 

 patients from moving, they were obliged to make 

 them lie down, their feet tied, between the two in- 

 clined planks of a rack. Steel knives shone on the 

 ground. As for them, innocent victims of the needs 

 of man, they were already bound and lying on their 

 sides. With gentle resignation they awaited their 

 sad fate. Were they going to be slain? Oh, no: 

 they were to be shorn. Jacques took a sheep by its 

 feet, placed it between the two planks of the rack, 

 and, with large scissors, began, cra-cra-cra, to cut 

 off the wool. Little by little, the fleece fell all in 

 one piece. When the sheep had been despoiled, it 

 ran free to one side, ashamed and chilly. It had 

 just given its covering to clothe man. Jacques put 

 another one on the rack, and the scissors began to 

 move. 



"Tell me, Jacques, " said Jules, "are not the sheep 

 very cold when they have had their wool cut off? 

 See how that one trembles that you have just shorn. ' ' 



"Never mind that : I have chosen a fine day for it. 

 The sun is warm. By to-morrow they won't feel 

 the need of their wool. And besides, ought not the 



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