A supper worthy of La Cognette brightened the faces of the twenty-two guests; for the whole Order was present.  At two in the morning, as they were beginning to “siroter” (a word in the vocabulary of the Knights which admirably expresses the act of sipping and tasting the wine in small quantities), Max rose to speak:—­

“My dear fellows! the honor of your grand master was grossly attacked this morning, after our memorable joke with Fario’s cart,—­attacked by a vile pedler, and what is more, a Spaniard (oh, Cabrera!); and I have resolved to make the scoundrel feel the weight of my vengeance; always, of course, within the limits we have laid down for our fun.  After reflecting about it all day, I have found a trick which is worth putting into execution,—­a famous trick, that will drive him crazy.  While avenging the insult offered to the Order in my person, we shall be feeding the sacred animals of the Egyptians,—­little beasts which are, after all, the creatures of God, and which man unjustly persecutes.  Thus we see that good is the child of evil, and evil is the offspring of good; such is the paramount law of the universe!  I now order you all, on pain of displeasing your very humble grand master, to procure clandestinely, each one of you, twenty rats, male or female as heaven pleases.  Collect your contingent within three days.  If you can get more, the surplus will be welcome.  Keep the interesting rodents without food; for it is essential that the delightful little beasts be ravenous with hunger.  Please observe that I will accept both house-mice and field-mice as rats.  If we multiply twenty-two by twenty, we shall have four hundred; four hundred accomplices let loose in the old church of the Capuchins, where Fario has stored all his grain, will consume a not insignificant quantity!  But be lively about it!  There’s no time to lose.  Fario is to deliver most of the grain to his customers in a week or so; and I am determined that that Spaniard shall find a terrible deficit.  Gentlemen, I have not the merit of this invention,” continued Max, observing the signs of general admiration.  “Render to Caesar that which is Caesar’s, and to God that which is God’s.  My scheme is only a reproduction of Samson’s foxes, as related in the Bible.  But Samson was an incendiary, and therefore no philanthropist; while we, like the Brahmins, are the protectors of a persecuted race.  Mademoiselle Flore Brazier has already set all her mouse-traps, and Kouski, my right-arm, is hunting field-mice.  I have spoken.”

“I know,” said Goddet, “where to find an animal that’s worth forty rats, himself alone.”

“What’s that?”

“A squirrel.”

“I offer a little monkey,” said one of the younger members, “he’ll make himself drunk on wheat.”

“Bad, very bad!” exclaimed Max, “it would show who put the beasts there.”

“But we might each catch a pigeon some night,” said young Beaussier, “taking them from different farms; if we put them through a hole in the roof, they’ll attract thousands of others.”