"It seems that a stream of water which rises in your property has
changed its course and flows over some tile-works of the aforesaid Uncle
Licurgo and the mill of another person, occasioning considerable
damage. My client--for he is determined that I shall get him out of this
difficulty--my client, as I said, demands that you shall restore the
water to its former channel, so as to avoid fresh injuries, and that
you shall indemnify him for the damage which his works have already
sustained through the neglect of the superior proprietor."

"And I am the superior proprietor! If I engage in a lawsuit, that will
be the first fruit that those famous Poplars, which were mine and which
now, as I understand, belong to everybody, will have ever produced me,
for Licurgo, as well as some of the other farmers of the district, have
been filching from me, little by little, year after year, pieces of
land, and it will be very difficult to re-establish the boundaries of my
property."

"That is a different question."

"That is not a different question. The real suit," exclaimed the
engineer, unable to control his anger, "will be the one that I will
bring against that rabble who no doubt propose to themselves to tire me
out and drive me to desperation--so that I may abandon every thing and
let them continue in possession of what they have stolen. We shall see
if there are lawyers and judges who will uphold the infamous conduct of
those village legists, who are forever at law, and who waste and consume
the property of others. I am obliged to you, young gentleman, for having
informed me of the villanous intentions of those boors, who are more
perverse than Satan himself. When I tell you that that very tile-yard