“Monsieur Grimaud!” said the duke, “for your sake I beg of you, never come within the reach of my fist!”
“Hush! hush!” cried La Ramee, “give me your gibbet, my lord. I will shape it out for you with my knife.”
And he took the gibbet and shaped it out as neatly as possible.
“That’s it,” said the duke, “now make me a little hole in the floor whilst I go and fetch the culprit.”
La Ramee knelt down and made a hole in the floor; meanwhile the duke hung the crawfish up by a thread. Then he placed the gibbet in the middle of the room, bursting with laughter.
La Ramee laughed also and the guards laughed in chorus;