Pierre looked at him; "Is it only ignorance?" he again asked.
"Bah," said Frank as he waved his hand with a gesture of supreme contempt; "I don't care what it is, it's very ridiculous and unreasonable."
The old man shook his head. "I believe what I've seen," he said.
Frank waxed hot. "You are then determined to remain in that state of narrow-mindedness, believing in all this nonsense. But, my man, you must be miserable."
Again the stolid answer came: "I believe what I've seen."
"Listen," said Frank: "One day, when I was about nine years of age, I was looking at a pig which had been, to all appearances, killed. As I was about to go nearer, the brute jumped down and came running after me. I, in my ignorance, thought it was a dead pig pursuing me, and when my mother told me the contrary, I said as you do: 'I believe what I have seen.'"
Quoth old Pierre: "As you say, it's a different thing altogether."
"Let us go about our work," said Frank; "we are losing our time I fear."
His hope of converting this man was almost extinguished.
"What are my decisions coming to?" he said to himself. "I had once determined to be an inventor, etcetera, and here I am with a face like the tan and tomato-stained hands. When I try to change Maît Pierre's notions, I fail. Notwithstanding, I will not be disheartened. Knowledge is power; if I fail here, I shall not fail everywhere."