“No time at all and their tongues were so sore they couldn’t swallow. So why try to eat me?
“That’s the way they looked at it. Soon as the show was over they left; went right off into the mountains; all but one.
“And that one, the biggest one of all, meant to eat me, sore tongue or no tongue at all.
“With a ferocious growl, tongue out, teeth shining, he came right at me.
“What did I do? What could I do? Just one thing. An inspiration! I sprang at him, seized his tongue, crammed it down his throat and choked him to death!”
“Killed him,” said a voice over his shoulder. It was the strange young man.
“Didn’t he bite you?” asked Petite Jeanne.
“Bite me? Oh, yes, to be sure. But then, what’s a little bite between friends?” Once more that deep, dry chuckle.
“Angelo!” he exclaimed. “This is Petite Jeanne. She dances, you know.”
“She does! I saw her. It was divine!” The youth’s eyes shone.