CROSSING PARIS
547
tion on Grandgil's part had appeared to him to be due to a lack of
tact, the clumsy attempt at intimidation of a loutish fellow who was
entering the debate with such arguments as were within his reach.
It was now shameless blackmail, despising precautions, and without
even the appearance of a pretext. Martin even saw in it something
else, something strange, almost inhuman. With a great effort, he
collected his wits and stiffened his determination to face Grandgil's
attack.
"Boss," he said in
.a
firm voice, "pay no attention to this fellow's
drivelling. You give me two times four hundred and fifty, and I will
settle with him."
The boss, hesitating, consulted Martin in a low tone. Taken
all in all, he was wondering if it would not be better to pay this
past master of blackmailing and postpone the expedition till the next
evening. The loss of a thousand francs and the inconvenience of
keeping the pig in his cellar now seemed to him negligible compared
to the danger that he would incur by accepting the ram's help.
"Do as I tell you," interrupted Martin. "I'll answer for every–
thing."
He had spoken in a loud voice, with a furious accent. The ram
did not even have the curiosity to turn around, to find out what
course affairs were taking. He walked slowly around the cellar,
examining the objects ranged along the walls as if he were making
an inventory of them, and taking time to finger them. They were
for the most part food stuffs, in copious quantities, dried beans, sugar,
hams, sausages, pastries, to say nothing of the wines. Grandgil opened
a wooden box and let the lid fall noisily, after having taken from it
a handful of flour, which he scattered over a case of bottles. Further
on, catching sight of a large paper sack he burst it with the end of
his index finger. Through the hole thus made, a stream of lentils
trickled toward the floor with a hissing sound which caught the
proprietor's ear. He ran toward his lentils with a bound which stopped
abruptly.
"Jamblier,45 Poliveau Street," Grandgil was murmuring. "Now
it will be two thousand francs."
Martin could not believe his ears. The ram seemed to him to
belong definitely to a species of mankind hitherto unknown. J amblier,
his cheeks flaming, his jaws clenched, stood as if frozen in the middle
