The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-01-24

Ch,sisin ~ill look upon you % fool"
0 !" VIII do not vex yourself" replied. the
..,..sn sfter having Illuminated few
a;nntes: !" &c they have played me trick
/ will play them tWo."
So the next day the old man went off to
Quaregnon, and he bought two white goats
from peasant, which so resembled one
another that It was impossible to distin-
guish them. The Saturday following, being
market day at Mons, he babe Claude have
a good supper ready, and leaving one OF ms
goats in the garden, he took the other with
him to town. The three ex-crusaders were
there.
"What do You come to buy, Messire
Vincent 7" said they to the sacristan.
Provisions" he replied; "and If you
will come and partake Of them with me it
will afford me much pleasure"
The companions accepted joyfully. The
sacristan, having selected fish and poultry,
placed the load on the back of the goat,
and said to it, as if it could understand
him:
"Go away home, and tell them to cook
the things forthwith, after the best fashion.
Tell them also to have pasty, and do not
loitcr on the way"
The three boon companions looked at
one another in astonishment, wondering if
the old man had lost his senses. The goat,
in the mean time being set free, went its
way, and Heaven knows into whose hands
it fell. After having walked for some time
with his three guests, and partaken OF
some of the old beer for which Mons was
famous, Vincent Lefevre, deeming it was
getting near supper time, led his friends
away to Boussu. When they arrived there
the three ex-crusaders saw the white goat
in the garden, and took it for the one they
had seen at market. They were filed with
surprise, and their establishment augment
ed when they heard the sacristan say to
Claude:
"Have you done what sent you word
by the goat ?"
Eyes" replied the other. And they sat
down to the table where were the fish, the
poultry, and the pastry. The rogues looked
at one another, and deeming that it would
not be easy to steal the goat, they said to
the old man:
"Messire Vincent, you must sell US that
white goat" 80
81 have no objections" said the sacris-
tan, eff you are prepared to give me forty
golden forms for it,"
The goat seemed such wonder that the
three rogues counted out the money and
took it away with them.
Next market day they said to their
wives:
"Have ready for supper for us what We
shall send YOU, and do as you will be told"
Then they took their way from Pomer9ul
to the market at Mons with the goat,
loaded it with provisions, and told it what
it must say to their wives. But when they
got home, and they inquired what had been
done with the provisions sent home on the
goat, their wives could not understand
what they meant, for the goat had not come
back, and, indeed, like its predecessor, was
never more heard Of.
"Some one has played you trick"
they said, "as you do others daily when
you get the chance"
The three robbers took up their daggers
in great passion, and swore that they
would have the sacristan's life. But Vim
cent Lefevre was prepared for them, and
had warned Claude. He knewthat he must
act solely on the defensive with the eX-
crusaders, for they were protected by the
Count Of Hainault, Baldwin V. the Cou-
ragcous, who always sided with his old SOL
diers. When he saw them coming in SO
great passion, he said to them:
"Friends, listen to me. If misfortune
has happened to your goat, have patience,
it will come back again and what it has
done must be the fault Of my relative,
Claude, who has permitted it to partake of
some intoxicating herbs. So | shall pun
ish him, as you shall witness"
And so saying he drew long knife from
his girdle, and stabbing Claude with it,
| there came forth torrent of blood Qrom
a bladder secreted in his clothes), and the
faithful attendant fell at the same time as
if dead.
ooh! miserable wretch that am :" ex-
claimed the sacristan. "What have |
done' ! have killed my relative and now
l must resuscitate him, if | have only
strength sufficient"
While the three rogues of PomcrGul
stood there aghast, the old man went away
and brought in flute, upon which he be-
gan to play lively air. Claude moved,
stretched out his hands, opened his eyes,
and soon after got upon his feet. The an
ger of the three thieves had by this time
passed away; they began, indeed, to hold
the sacristan rather in awe, and finished by
giving him forty more tlorins for his flute.
A few days afterward one Of the robbers
got into great passion with his wife and
killed her with his dagger. But recover
ing himself afterward he regretted the
deed, and had recourse to the flute. But
it was in vain that he played upon it for
more than an hour his wife did not come
to life again. When he related what had
happened to the two others, one Of them
said:
q suppose that it is because you don't
know the air that the sacristan played.
Give it to me, and will try it,"
So in order to make the experiment, he
forthwith stabbed his comrade, making
sure of reviving him and his wife after
ward. But he played upon the flute in
vain--death would not give up either Of its
victims.
The two remaining thieves became, upon
this furious with passion.
"Vincent Lefevre," they said, sis most
assuredly magician, and he shall pay for
these tricks dearly. There is only one way
of destroying one who is in league with
the devil, and that is to tie him in sack
and cast him into the Haine."
They accordingly went away, seized
upon the old man, tied him in sack, and
carried him toward the river.
As they were going along an incident
happened to disarrange their plans for a
moment. The Count Of Hainault hap
pened to be passing by on his way from
Flanders, where he then reigned, in vir
tue of bis marriage with Margaret of AL
satia. The two comrades being obliged,
according to the custom of the day, to
salute the count, and to join his escort as
far as the next village, they deposited the