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148 MONSIEUR DUMAS AND HIS BEASTS |
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blood. Look! there is M. Charpillon running after his hare.'
' You know that I have just put some pellets into your Pritchard? ' Charpillon called out as soon as he saw me.
' You did quite right.'
' He carried off my hare.'
' There! You see,' said Michel, ' it is impossible to cure him.'
' But when he carried away your hare, he must have had it in his mouth ? '
' Of course. Where else would he have it? '
' But how could he howl with a hare in his mouth ?'
' He put it down to howl, then he took it up again and made off.'
' There's deceit for you, gentlemen! ' exclaimed Michel.
Pritchard succeeded in bringing the hare to me, but when he reached me he had to lie down.
' I say,' said Charpillon, ' I hope I haven't hurt him more than I intended — it was a long shot.' And forgetting his hare, Charpillon knelt down to examine Pritchard's wound. It was a serious one; Pritchard had received live or six pellets about the region of his tail, and was bleeding profusely.
' Oh, poor beast! ' cried Charpillon. ' I wouldn't have fired that shot for all the hares in creation if I had known.'
' Bah!' said Michel; ' he won't die of it.' And, in fact, Pritchard, after spending three weeks with the vet. at St.-Germains, returned to Monte Cristo perfectly cured, and with his tail in the air once more.
IX
Soon after the disastrous event which I have just related the revolution of 1848 occurred in France, in which King Louis Philippe was dethroned and a republic |
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