shameless tales of lewd, fantastic adventures, with blinking eyes
and a passionless expression of countenance. The imagination of
this man was powerful and inexhaustible; he could go on relating
and composing all day, from morning to night, without once
repeating what he had said before. In his expression you
sometimes saw the poet gone astray, sometimes the romancer, and
he always succeeded in making his tales realistic by the
effective and powerful words in which he told them.

There was also a foolish young man called Kuvalda Meteor. One
night he came to sleep in the dosshouse and had remained ever
since among these men, much to their astonishment. At first they
did not take much notice of him. In the daytime, like all the
others, he went away to find something to eat, but at nights he
always loitered around this friendly company till at last the
Captain took notice of him.

"Boy! What business have you here on this earth?"

The boy answered boldly and stoutly:

"I am a barefooted tramp . . . ."

The Captain looked critically at him. This youngster had long
hair and a weak face, with prominent cheek-bones and a turned-up
nose. He was dressed in a blue blouse without a waistband, and
on his head he wore the remains of a straw hat, while his feet
were bare.

"You are a fool!" decided Aristid Kuvalda. "What are you