THE RED DRAGON

The floor of the hut was packed earth; two black hens were pecking at it as if in a farmyard, and in a dark corner, the round eyes of one of those enormous toads, such as one finds in quarries, sparkled.

The appearance of this miserable dwelling was not of a nature to reassure poor Claude Michu. Thus, he stopped on the threshold with a movement of sudden apprehension.

He did not dare to venture his foot into this cursed enclosure, and he would probably have turned back if Simounen, fearing to see his dupe escape him, had not shouted to him in an encouraging tone:

"Good evening, Claude. Come in quickly, my friend; I see that you are an exact young man."

The aspiring sorcerer understood that it was too late to back out.

He gave a shiver and risked stepping inside.

The shepherd then rose and came to carefully close the door.

"We must not be disturbed," he said, as if to himself. "The police original: "gendarmes" do not believe in anything, and if they surprised us, they would be quite capable, upon my faith, of throwing our affairs into disorder."

This fear of the police, imprudently expressed by the sorcerer, should have inspired Claude to make some judicious reflections; instead of telling himself that he was involving himself in a business perilous from the point of view of those interests; instead of thinking that a sorcerer who commands the demon should not fear men, the gullible peasant considered his attempt all the more terrible because Simounen took such precautions to ensure the result.

"Come now," the old man said to him after a moment,