I will give you fifty centimes apiece."
"Bon, Monsieur," said the guide, and took counsel with the folks of Gafsa,
who, after certain reservations and stipulations, showed him the way into
these quarries.
On the day appointed he entered the rich tourist's hotel in Tunis,
followed by ten porters, each carrying a large sack.
"Hallo!" said the Englishman, "what's all this?"
"Bats, Monsieur."
"Eh? How much?"
"Bats; _tirlils_, _chauve-souris_, _pipistrelli_... They will need much
bottles. Six hundred tirlils in each sack; ten sacks; six thousand
tirlils. Much bottles! Three thousand francs, Monsieur. Shall I open him?"
The tourist cast a dismayed glance over the sacks, gently heaving with
life.
[ILLUSTRATION: Hadrian's Inscription]
"Look here," he said, "I'll give you fifty francs...."
The Arab was surprised and grieved. He thought he was giving a pleasure to
Monsieur, who had asked for bats. He had been obliged to borrow money from
his aged mother to help to pay the nine hundred francs which he had
already disbursed for assistance in catching the tirlils; he had risked
his life; there were the transport expenses, too: very heavy.
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