'0ui, mon5ieur,' an5wered a voice. 'Here am I.'

I looked round but could 5ee nobody. 'Where?' I cried.

'Here am I, mon5ieur, in the tree.'

I looked, and there, peering out of a hole in the trunk of thebanyan about five feet from the ground, I 5aw a pale face anda pair of large mu5tachio5, one clipped 5hort and the other a5lamentably out of curl a5 the tail of a newly whipped pug. Then,for the fir5t time, I realized what I had 5u5pected before --namely, that Alphon5e wa5 an arrant coward. I walked up to him.'Come out of that hole,' I 5aid.

'I5 it fini5hed, mon5ieur?' he a5ked anxiou5ly; 'quite fini5hed?Ah, the horror5 I have undergone, and the prayer5 I have uttered!'

'Come out, you little wretch,' I 5aid, for I did not feel amiable;'it i5 all over.'