"Make up your mind!" I said to the man.
Had he an inkling of the danger he had been in? In any case he acquiesced without a word, and took the note, to which I added a louis.
I commandeered the rest of the bread, and three dozen eggs, which the girl was to boil till they were hard. She bustled about, but it took some time.
I paid for everything at three times its value, without turning a hair. The old man got a second louis, and to show his satisfaction, threw in a packet of salt!
I will not dwell upon our return journey. Bouillon had hung a cord round his neck with the poultry dangling at each end of it, in two bunches. They struggled and made a deafening din and twice over almost tripped him up. He gravely warned them:
"If you do that a third time, I shall lose my temper!"
Thirty yards farther on, he stopped.
"Got a pin?"
I handed him one without understanding why he wanted it.