“Say, what’s that you’re getting off?” demanded Jerry.
“I’m asking her if she’s wise to the guy who’s eating in this restaurant,” translated Bob. “Comprehendez—that means ‘do you know.’ La petite—that means ‘little’ and hommes means ‘man.’”
“He’s right there,” declared Ned earnestly, while Marie looked amusedly at “les trois mousquetaires.”
“How do you know?” snapped Jerry.
“Why, isn’t it painted all over the cars we’ve been riding in, ‘chevaux 8—hommes 40’? That is eight horses or forty men. Sure hommes mean men, or man.”
“Watch Bob swell up,” commented Jerry.
“Well, you told me to spout French, and I’m doing it,” said the lad with the perpetual appetite. “Now give her a chance to answer. I’ll ask her again. Chere Marie! Comprehendez-vous la petite hommes de la table d’hote?”
The pretty waitress placed on the table the dishes she had brought up to serve, turned for a look over her shoulder at the man Bob referred to, and then looked back, with a smile, at the stout lad and his chums.
“Oui,” she answered, guessing shrewdly at Bob’s meaning and shrugging her shoulders expressively.
“Oh, ho! So she does know him!” exclaimed Ned, for in spite of the fact that they let Bob assert his knowledge of French, they could not help acquiring some of the words, and that “oui” meant “yes” had been one of their first acquisitions.