"Yes, indeed, my lord, we have seen them in great numbers."
"And what kind of animals were they?" asked Clement, in joyful curiosity.
"Why, dog-headed Tartars"—
"You fool! I am not asking for them. I wish to know whether in your wanderings through the forest you have not seen a foreign, four-footed beast of prey with striped skin."
The judge shook his head incredulously, looked at his people and answered with a shrug of his shoulders:
"We have seen no such strange animal. It may be that Sanga-moarta has seen it, for he is forever wandering through the woods and ravines in his foolish way."
"Who is this Sanga-moarta? Summon him."
"Ah, my lord, he is hard to find; he rarely comes into the village. His mother may be here."
"Here she is! Here she is," cried several peasants, and pushed forward an old woman with sunken features, whose head was wound round several times with a white cloth.
"What kind of a foolish name[2] have you given your son?" asked the Lieutenant of her. "Whoever heard of giving a human being the name dead-man's-blood?"