KIDD’S OWN JOURNAL. 

juncture, Bombyx pushed open the door. Down 
came my friend,—ladder and all, sprawling in the 
garden. His hat fell some yards before him, and 
his book and pencils went flying in opposite 
directions. His nose was flattened, his coat torn 
between the spokes of the ladder, his hands were 
scratched, and he himself was a bleeding object ! 
There he was, a neat specimen of a policeman! 
Had he taken the hint and departed quietly, all 
would have ended here; but, no! scarcely was he 
on his legs again before he began to use most 
abusive language to Bombyx,—winding up his 
harangue by calling him a vilain, gros cochon 
d’ Anglais, and put himself en position to shew 
fight. 


hand, and the ladder in the left, he made them 
embrace each other for a few minutes, in a most 
unpoliceman-like fashion. He then dragged the 
offender, wriggling like a fish on a hook, up to the 
target. This he also made him embrace, and 
then desired him to go about his business. 
Here again all might have ended, but the fellow 
would not yet be quiet! He insulted Jean, who, 
thinking he already had got sufficient, only stroked 
his nose at him, and advised him to walk away 
quietly, and look after some othergame. Once again 
was he summarily told to walk off; but there the 
idiot stood, still insulting Bombyx. Upon this, 
determined to put an end to such folly, I seized 
him by the pendant tail of his coat, and fairly 
shook him out of the place. The gate was then 
closed, and he left—to ‘his meditations.” 
Tt was lucky for this chap that Carlo was absent, 
on ,some business of his own in the town. Very 
fortunate for us, too, was it that Jean happened to 
be present. The best of the joke, however, is yet 
to come. Our worthy, having recovered his 
thoughts, went up to the Municipal Court, and 
lodged a complaint against Bombyx. Now, it so 
happened that the only person there present, to 
receive his complaint, was Mr. H——n; and 
Bombyx was perhaps the best customer he had. 
Mr. H. was a pianoforte and musical instrument 
vendor; and Bombyx generally had more than 
one of his instruments and a quantity of his music 
‘on hire.” He also constantly employed Mr. 
NS} and his wife (Mr. H——n’s son-in-law and 
daughter). Poor H n! He was quite posed 
with the Policeman’s complaint; and most heartily 
wished him further. The man declared “ qu il 
avait été grossiérement mal-traité, insulté, décapité, 
trois fois tué, boxré, assommé, roulé dans la boue ; 
que toutes ses jointures étaient entortillées, sa téte 
cass€ en mille morgeaux. Entn, qu’ il fit tout 
estropie et mis hors de combat par Bombyx. En- 
core, qu’ il avait été saisi, mutilé, devoré, dechiré 
en mille morceaux—et absolument crucifié par les 
trois gros chiens de Bombyx.” 
This was really a very serious and grave charge: 
and down came the fellow with another policeman, 
taking, for protection’s sake, the precaution to 
ring, this time, at the front gate. Jean happened 
to be in the yard ; and recognised in his companion 
an old friend. 
After reading over the precious document, Jean 
burst out in a roar of laughter, and stroked his 
nose in double quick time. He then applied a 
double prise, approached the worthy policeman, 
and, tapping him on the shoulder, said :— 




Upon this Bombyx approached him; and | 
rapidly seizing him by the collar with the right | 

297 

“ Mest bel et bon, mon cher,—pourtant il y a de 
la moutarde dedans. Au revoir, Nous allons 
voir Veffet que ga va produire.” 
“Do you know anything about this disturb- 
ance ?”’ said the camarade to Jean. 
“ Parbleu, owi!”’ said Jean, in a way not to be 
misunderstood. ‘‘ Nous al—lons—voir—l effet.” 
And here they departed. Jean now brought 
the precious document to Bombyx, who wrote to 
Mr. H n, that he certainly should not take the 
trouble to walk up to him,—that the man only got 
half what he deserved for his insolent conduct, 
and that he begged to return his elegant docu- 
ment, which was of no use to himself, and might 
serve Mr. H n as shaving paper the next time 
he performed on la barba ; and that he particularly 
recommended him (good advice this, eh?) not to 
meddle with matters of which he did not under- 
stand anything. 
This reply was taken up to Mr. H—n by 
Jean. When Mr. H n had read it, he asked 
Jean if he knew anything about the business. 
“Ah, que si,” replied Jean: et si 7’ai des con- 
seils &@ vous donner c'est de bien reprimander 
votre garde champétre.” And then, stroking his 
nose significantly, he continued,—‘‘ Ht vous ausst. 
Vous avez tres mal fait de signer une pareille 
cochonerie. C'est bien sale.” 
H n could stand this no longer. He saw 
what was coming, and said to Jean,—‘ Vous direz 
a Bombyx que Vaffaire, est terminée quant & lui, 
et que 7 aurai bien soin qwil west plus tourmenté.” 
‘“ Vous avez tres bien jugé,” saysJean. “ Bon 
jour.” 
How the matter ended between Mr. H—n 
and the policeman, I never exactly heard ; but I 
fancy not very satisfactorily. I never met him 
again without showing my teeth, and this annoyed 
him very much. Indeed he never met Bombyx 
without looking furious, and at length he con- 
cocted a new species of annoyance, in order to be 
revenged. ‘This, however, terminated in his total 
discomfiture, as well as that of his stupid dupe. 
This was accomplished to the great joy of the 
neighborhood, where they were most thoroughly 
disliked. 
Afterwards, Bombyx applied to the Prefecture, 
and they sent down a Surveyor, who granted him 
a license for the Tir aw Pistolet, on the very spot 
which he had himself selected; so that whenever 
the garde champétre passed the gate, and Bombyx 
or his friends were amusing themselves, he had 
his auricular appendages gratified by the cheerful 
sound; and the souvenir of his well-deserved 
thrashing was equally gratifying. 
Besides this, I took good care to point him out 
to Carlo. So that, between us, he never came by 
the place without a sulky growl. I observed, too, 
that he always quickened his monotonous pace, 
till he was fairly out of sight. 
It would occupy too much space to describe 
here the final consequences of this worthy’s re- 
vengeful trick ; but I will do so (peutétre) in my 
next. It will be full offun. I may say that it 
finished like many other silly revengeful tricks. 
He dug a pit for others and fell into it himself. 
I will now say Adieu,—au revoir. Remember 
what you promised us. Christmas will soon be 
here. I heard all you said, the other evening, 
about those sparkling red berries,—and the trees, 





