CHAPTER V. HOW ALI PEPE, HAVING DONE ALL THAT COULD BE EXPECTED OF ANHONEST MAN, WAS HANGED.
THAT evening the doors of the inn were closed earlier than usual. Alihad given his servants a holiday to go to the fair at Montella, and wasthus left alone with his four lodgers. He locked all the doors, put upthe chain at the front gate, ascertained that the shutters were closed,all of which were precautions he did not usually take. Then he wentdown into the cellar, where there was a collection of weapons of alldescriptions.
He selected a large knife, which he carefully sharpened; put on a shirtof mail, as easy-fitting as silk, but perfectly sword-proof; put on ahelmet of extraordinary shape, which completely concealed his face, andwent up-stairs again softly. On arriving at the top of the stairs he putout his lamp, and stole forward on tiptoe. He stopped in succession atthe doors of the four knights, and peeped through the keyhole tosee what they were doing. Mont-Rognon was at his eighth bottle;Porc-en-Truie was asleep; Allegrignac was taking the fresh air in thegarden; Maragougnia was furtively counting his money.
"Good!" said Ali to himself. "In one hour the gentleman who is at supperwill have finished his ninth bottle, and tumbled under the table; theone who is dozing will be snoring soundly; the one who is meditatingwill be asleep; and as to the fourth-"
The proprietor of the "Crocodile" said no more; he had reached thestable, where he flung himself down on the straw.
At midnight Allegrignac woke up in a fright. He thought he heard apiercing cry.
"Somebody's having his throat cut," said the Count de Salencon. He satdown on the foot of his bed and listened. All was silent; you might haveheard the spiders spinning their webs.
"I wasn't dreaming, nevertheless--no; I am sure I heard a cry."
He continued to listen, and now the silence made him tremble. Heremembered his bargain with the innkeeper. The idea that he was theinstigator of the crime which undoubtedly had just been committeddeprived him of sleep. He dressed himself, and sat himself down on theside of his bed, with his drawn sword in his hand. In a quarter of anhour two more shrieks resounded through the night. Allegrignac sprangup as briskly as if in obedience to a hidden spring. These renewed criesalarmed him.
"Everybody is having his throat cut!" said he to himself, growing moreand more frightened. "My conscience has only to answer for one of thecrimes; so, if Master Ali is too zealous, I am not responsible."
As a precaution, he rolled his bed against the door, put the table andchairs on the top of it, and kept watch. The rest of the night passedpeaceably and quietly. The moon accomplished her nocturnal round, andwhen the sun reappeared, Allegrignac, ashamed of his panic, restoredeverything to its place. At seven o'clock Ali knocked at the door.
"Here is what you want," said he, placing a small sack on the count'sbed. "Have you the money ready?"
"There it is."
"I should recommend you to lose no time in setting out, for I think Isaw one of your companions this morning."
Allegrignac did not wait to hear this advice repeated. He wentdown-stairs, and, finding his horse ready at the door, he tied the sackto the saddle-bow, set spurs to his nag, and rode off at a gallop. Alismiled to see him go, and then, when he was no longer in sight, turnedinto the apartment of the Baron of Mont-Rognon.
"I have obeyed your orders, sir. Here is what you required." Andhe flung a sack on the table, as he had already done in the case ofAllegrignac.
"There is the sum we agreed on," said the baron, tendering him thetwenty-five pieces. "Saddle my horse, I am in a hurry to be off!"
"It is ready saddled," said the landlord, taking the money; "your honourwill find it at the foot of the stairs."
Mont-Rognon went out for the first time for a month. He attached thesmall sack to the saddle-bow as Allegrignac had done, and in a fewminutes was out of sight. Ali did not on this day enter the two roomsoccupied by Porc-en-Truie and Maragougnia. He spent his time in countinghis money.
"Fifty gold pieces from the drunken knight, plus forty for his keep,will be ninety. Sixty from the talkative knight, plus thirty-five forhis board and lodging, will be ninety-five. That makes one hundred andeighty-five pieces in all, if I know anything of arithmetic. Add to thisthe purses of the lazy knight and the knight of the raven plumes--theone containing one hundred and fifty and the other a hundred and fortypieces, amounting to two hundred and ninety--which I must add to onehundred and eighty-five, leaving a total four hundred and seventy-fivepieces of good new money. This is more than one wants to begin life withhonestly, so I can afford myself that little whim--and will do so!" AliPepe was unable to realise this laudable purpose. He was hanged eightdays after, as you, my young friends, will learn, if you continue toread this history.
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