39. “Ah, you little rascal, you are making game of me! Tell me at once which way Gianetto went, for it is he that we are after, and I am certain he took this path.”
40. “How do you know that?”
41. “How do I know that? I know you have seen him.”
Child’s crafty nature increasingly disclosed.
42. “Does one see passers-by when one is asleep?”
43. “You were not asleep, you little demon; the gunshots would have waked you.”
44. “You think, then, Cousin, that your guns make a great noise? My father’s rifle makes much more.”
45. “May the devil confound you, you young scamp! I am sure enough that you have seen Gianetto. Perhaps you have even hidden him. Here, comrades, go into this house, and see if our man is not there. He could walk only on one foot, and he has too much good sense, the rascal, to have tried to reach the maquis limping. Besides, the marks of blood stop here.”
Sly appeal to the fear inspired by Mateo’s reputation.
46. “Whatever will papa say!” asked Fortunato, with a chuckle; “what will he say when he finds out that his house has been entered while he was away!”