"Don't stir, any of you," said Scapin, under his breath, and I will
endeavour to capture this splendid prize"--with which the clever scamp
crept softly round behind his companions, who were still seated in a
circle on the rug, so lightly that he made not the slightest sound; and
while the gander--who with his two followers had stopped short at sight
of the intruders--was intently examining them, with some curiosity
mingled with his angry defiance, and apparently wondering in his stupid
way how these mysterious figures came to be in that usually deserted
spot, Scapin succeeded, by making a wide detour, in getting behind the
three geese unseen, and noiselessly advancing upon them, with one rapid,
dexterous movement, threw his large heavy cloak over the coveted prize.
In another instant he had the struggling gander, still enveloped in the
cloak, in his arms, and, by compressing his neck tightly, quickly put an
end to his resistance--and his existence at the same time; while his two
wives, or rather widows, rushed back into the thick underbrush to
avoid a like fate, making a great cackling and ado over the terrible
catastrophe that had befallen their quondam lord and master.
"Bravo, Scapin! that was a clever trick indeed," cried Herode; "it
throws those you are so often applauded for on the stage quite into the
shade--a masterpiece of strategy, friend Scapin!--for, as is well known,
geese are by nature very vigilant, and never caught off their guard--of
which history gives us a notable instance, in the watchfulness of the
sacred geese of the Capitol, whose loud cackling in the dead of night at
the stealthy approach of the Gauls woke the sleeping soldiers to a sense
of their danger just in time to save Rome.
Pages:
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204