72 OUR HUMBLE HELPERS 



three, and so on, augmenting the dose each day. In 

 Provence they stop at forty nuts a day; elsewhere 

 they go on to a hundred. ' ' 



"And the turkey does not die, stuffed thus with 

 nuts as large and hard as stones ? ' ' asked Jules. 



"You would be pleased to see how the bird pros- 

 pers and fattens on food that would choke any other 

 creature." 



"With a hundred nuts in its crop, or even only 

 forty," was Louis's comment, "the turkey can't be 

 very comfortable." 



"They are not swallowed all at one time, but in 

 portions during the day." 



"No matter," persisted Jules; "if you hadn't al- 

 ready told us, according to that learned Italian 

 Wait a minute ; what was his name ? 9 ' 



"The abbot Spallanzani." 



"Yes, the abbot Spallanzani. If you hadn't told 

 us about his experiments and the wonderful power of 

 the gizzard, I should never be able to understand how 

 a turkey could manage to digest nuts, shell and all, 

 up to forty and even a hundred a day." 



"Everything is reduced to a sort of soup in the 

 gizzard shells and kernels; all becomes as soft as 

 butter; and the bird, fat as a pig, finally serves as 

 the chief dish at the Christmas feast." 



