"Hold, mon bonhomme!" I cried to him. Still he did not move, whereat
I lost patience and caught him a kick full in the side, so choicely
aimed that first it doubled him up, then brought him into a sitting
posture, with the snarl of a cross-grained dog that has been rudely
aroused.

From out of an evil, dirty countenance a pair of gloomy, bloodshot
eyes scowled threateningly upon me. The man on the chair awoke at
the same instant, and sat forward.

"Eh bien?" said I to my friend on the hearth: "Will you stir
yourself?"

"For whom?" he growled. "Is not the Etoile as much for me as for
you, whoever you may be?"

"We have paid our lodging, pardieu!" swore he of the chair.

"My masters," said I grimly, "if you have not eyes to see my sodden
condition, and if you therefore have not the grace to move that I
may approach the fire; I'll see to it that you spend the night not
only a l'Etoile, but a la belle etoile." With which pleasantry,
and a touch of the foot, I moved my friend aside. My tone was not
nice, nor do I generally have the air of promising more than I can
fulfil.

They were growling together in a corner when Antoine came to draw
off my doublet and my boots. They were still growling when Gilles
joined us presently, although at his coming they paused to take his
measure with their eyes. For Gilles was something of a giant, and