had aroused itself and had become furious. He even declared that it had
now entered his head and was eating his brain. He was howling with such
contortions that Poirat's wife, thinking him possessed by the devil,
began to cry and to cross herself. Then, the pain abating a little, the
sick man began to tell how it was running round in his ear. With his
finger he imitated the movements of the body, seeming to see it, to
follow it with his eyes: "There is goes up again! Oh--oh--oh--what
torture!"

Caniveau was getting impatient. "It's the water that is making the bug
angry. It is probably more accustomed to wine."

Everybody laughed, and he continued: "When we get to the Cafe Bourbeux,
give it some brandy, and it won't bother you any more, I wager."

But Belhomme could contain himself no longer; he began howling as though
his soul were being torn from his body. The priest was obliged to hold
his head for him. They asked Cesaire Horlaville to stop at the nearest
house. It was a farmhouse at the side of the road. Belhomme was carried
into it and laid on the kitchen table in order to repeat the operation.
Caniveau advised mixing brandy and water in order to benumb and perhaps
kill the insect. But the priest preferred vinegar.

They poured the liquid in drop by drop this time, that it might penetrate
down to the bottom, and they left it several minutes in the organ that
the beast had chosen for its home.

A bowl had once more been brought; Belhomme was turned over bodily by the
priest and Caniveau, while the schoolmaster was tapping on the healthy
ear in order to empty the other.