with laugh and jest and badinage to where he sat, faisant Suisse as usual.
"Bonsoir, cher Monsieur Cigale," she said. "Would you do me a kindness?"
The Grasshopper rose, thrust his hands up the sleeves of his tunic as far as his elbows, bowed three times, and then knelt upon the ground and smote it thrice with his forehead. Rising, he poured forth a torrent of some language entirely unknown to Carmelita.
"Speak French or Italian, cher Monsieur Cigale," she said.
"A thousand pardons, Signora," replied the Grasshopper. "But you will admit it is not usual for a Mandarin of the Highest Button to speak French. I was saying that the true kindness would be your allowing me to do you a kindness. May I doom your wonk[1] of an enemy to the death of the Thousand Cuts?"
"Not this evening, dear Mandarin, thank you," replied Carmelita; "but you can carry a message of the highest military importance. It is well known that you are a soldier of soldiers, and have never yet failed in any military duty."
The Mandarin bowed thrice.
"Will you go straight and find le Légionnaire Jean Boule of your Company, and tell him to come to me at once. Say Carmelita sent you and tell him you have the countersign:—'Our Ally, Russia, is in danger!'"
"I am honoured and I fly," was the reply. "I will send no official of the Yamen, but go myself. Should the Po Sing, they of the Hundred Names, the όι πολλοι, beset my path I will cry, 'Sha! Sha!—Kill! Kill!—and scatter them before me. Should the kwei tzu, the Head Dragon from Hell, or the Military Police
- ↑ Chinese pariah dog
