partll
MATHIAS SANDORF.
f hence came their queer names?   Were they the two
aphical points between   which  curves the Bay of
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"ilgiers r
-x   i *
Yes.    And the names fitted them perfectly, as
;0f Atlas does some giant wrestler.
""(jape Matifou is an enormous mamelon, strong and un-
-kkable, which rises at the north-east end of the vast
Ldstead of Algiers as if to defy the unchained elements
.,,1 illustrate the celebrated line
"Its mass indestructible wearied our time."
And such was the athlete Matifou, an Alcides, a Por-
t]lS) a fortunate rival of the Ompdrailles, of Nicholas
Qj-este, and other famous wrestlers who have shone in the
arenas of the South.
This giant was more than six feet in height, with a
voluminous head, shoulders in proportion, chest like a
smith's bellows, and limbs like tree-trunks, with the
strength of steel. He was manly strength in all its mag-
nificence, and had he known his age, we should have
farad, not without surprise, that he had only just entered
lis twenty-second year. Although this. giant was not
2ified with striking intelligence, yet his heart was good,
and his character was simple and gentle. He knew not
late or anger. He would do no one an injury. Seldom,
indeed, would he shake the hand that was offered him'
for fear he should crush it in his own. In his powerful
nature there was nothing of the tiger, although he had
tie strength. And besides, at a word, at a sign even from
lis companion, he would obey, as if he had been the
gigantic son of that little slip of a man.
As a contrast, at the western extremity of the Bay of
Algiers, Point Pescade, opposite Cape Matifou, is a thin,
spare, uarrow, rocky tongue running out into the sea.
From it the name of Pescade was given to this fellow of
twenty, who was small, slender, skinny, and of not half
lie weight of his friend, but supple, active, quick-witted,
of inexhaustible good humor through good and evil fort-
une, a philosopher in his way, inventive and practicala
regular monkey without his mischiefand indissolubly
"by fate to the enormous pachyderm whom he led
all the phases of a mountebank's life.
Both were acrobats by profession and traveled from fair
to fair. Matifouor Cape Matifou as he was also called
wrestled in the ring, giving all sorts of displays of strength,
tailing iron bars on his biceps, lifting the heaviest of his
audience at arm's length, and juggling with his young
companion as if he were a tennis ball. Pescadeor Point
Pescade, as ho was commonly calledgesticulated, sung,
played the fool, amused the public by his clownish wit, as-
tonished them by his feats as an equilibrist, at which he
ws yery clever, and mystified  them with his conjuring
But why on this occasion on the quay at Gravosa are
w poor fellows left out inthe cold, while the people
wd to the other booths? Why have they taken so little
en they want it so much? It is difficult to say.
their language, an agreeable mixture of Provenal and
pan, was more than enough for them to make them-
*es understood. Since their departure from Provence,
were they had known no relatives and seemed to have
wi produced by spontaneous generation, thev had wan-
wed about from markets to fairs, living ill rather than
2 but still living, and if not dining every day, at least
Wing something for supper every night; and that was
m enough for them, for, as Point Pescade remarked,
e need not ask for the impossible."
.mit it the worthy fellow did not ask for it on this occa-
J? fl tr'ed at it none the less in his endeavor to get to-
ff',a dozen spectators before his platform in the hope
2 they wouldpay a visit to his miserable arena. But
jj.,1"."is witticisms, to wliich his foreign accent gave
L P0111^ nor his patter which would have made the
iiaied- a vau^evillist> nor h's facial twists which would
[onj !awn a S.1''11 from a graven image, nor his acrobatic
|e 5,0ns_wliich were quite prodigies of dislocation, nor
listed [act'ons f his grass wig whoso goat's beard tail
*o.tlt If ^em f his jacket, nor his sallies which were
(lc "[aPnlcinello of Rome or a Stentarello of Flor-
uit116 slightest effect on the public.
}iatly yet. fchey had been practicing on the Sclaves for
Wbaiv? S' A-^er leaving Provence they had crossed
fly and Venetia, mounted, it could almost be said,
Pont vil. ther-Cape Matifou famous for his strength,
Point Pescade celebrated for his agility. Their renSwn
had preceded them to Trieste in Illyria. From Trieste
they had advanced through Istria, descending on the
Dalmatian coast at Zara, Salone, Ragusa, finding it more
piofitable to advance than to retreat. Behind them thev
were used up; in front of them their entertainment was
new and likely to bring good business. Now, alas! the
tour which had never been very good threatened to become
veiy bad, and the poor fellows had but one desire, and
that they knew not how to realize; it was to get back to
their native land and never come so far away from it
again. But they were dragging a weight behind them,
tiie weignt of misery, and to walk many leagues with that
weight at their feet was very hard.
But without thinking of the future they had to think
of the present-that is, of the night's supper, which had
not yet been earned. They had not a kreutzer in the
treasury, if that pretentious name could be given to the
corner of the handkerchief in which Point Pescade used
to keep the money. In vain he sparred away on his tres-
tles. In vain he shouted despairing appeals into vacancy.
In vain Cape Matifou exhibited his biceps, on which the
veins stood out like the ivy on an old tree! Not a specta-
tor showed the slightest idea of entering the canvas ring.
' Hard to move these Dalmatians!" said Point  Pescade
"As paving-stones," remarked Cape Matifou.
"I don't think we shall have any luck to-dav! Look
here, Cape Matifou, we shall have to pack up " "
"Pack upwhere for?"
"You are curious!"
"Tell us."
" Well, I will think of some place where we are at least
sure of one meal a day.
"What place is that, Point Pescade?"
"Oh, it's far, far awayand much further than verv
far, Cape Matifou."                                                              J
"At the end of the world?"
"The world has no end,"sententionsly replied Pescade.
" If it had .an end it wouldn't be round ! If it didn't turn
it would be immovable, and if it was immovable"
"Well?" asked Cape Matifou.
"Well, it would tumble into the sun in less time than
I could juggle a rabbit."
"And then?"
"And then there will happen what happens to a clumsy
juggler when two balls go smash in the air! Crack!
crash, collapse, and the people hiss and want their money
back, and you have to give it to them, and to-night we
shall have nothing for supper!"
"And so," asked the giant, "if the earth tumbles into
the sun we shall have nothing for supper?"
And Cape Matifou fell into infinite perspectives. Seated
on a corner of the platform, with his arms crossed on his
tights, he began to nod his head like a crockery mandarin:
he said no more, he saw no more, he heard no more. He
was absorbed in a most unintelligible association of ideas,
all mixed up in his mighty noddle. And this is what he
felt gape like a gulf in the depths of bis being. It seemed
to him that he rose high, very high, higher than very
high; this expression of Pescade had struck him as being
very appropriate. Then suddenly he was left alone, and
he fellinto his own stomachthat is to say, into empti-
ness.
It was quite a nightmare. The poor fellow rose on the
stops, with his hands extended, as if he were blind. A
moment later he tumbled on to the platform.
"Eh! Cape Matifou, what's up?" exclaimed Point Pes-
cade, seizing his comrade by the hand, and dragging him
back.
" Me?" answered the giant, in great confusion. " The 
do you mean?"
" Yes, yon."
" I have," said Matifou, collecting his ideasa difficult
operation, notwithstanding their number was so incon-
siderable"I have been thinking that it is necessary I
should speak to you, Point Pescade!"
" Say on, then, my Cape, and fear not that I shall not
listen!    Avaunt, thou public, avaunt!"
The giant sat down on tlie steps, and, in his strong
arms, gently, <as if he was afraid of smashing him, he drew
his companion to his side.