On reaching the bank, Pitsikatoff got a shock. His clothes were gone. Stolen . .. While he had been gazing in admiration at the fair one, anonymous villains had pinched everything except his double- bass and his top-hat.
'Accursed Fate!' he exclaimed. 'Oh Man, thou generation of vip- ers! It is not so much the deprivation of my garments that perturbs me (for clothing is but vanity), as the thought of having to go naked and thereby offending against public morality.'
He satdown on his instrumentcaseand began to think how he was going to get out of this dreadful situation. 'I can't go to Prince Bibuloff's without any clothes,' he mused. 'There will be ladies present. What is more, the thieves have stolen not only my trousers, but also the rosin I had in my trouser pocket!'
He thought long and painfully, until his head ached.
'Aha!' -at last he'd got it- 'not far from here there's a little bridge surrounded by bushes. I can sit under there till nightfall and then make my way in the dark to the nearest cottage . . .'
And so, having adopted this plan, Pitsikatoff put on his top-hat, swung the double-bass onto his back and padded off towards the bushes. Naked, with his musical instrument slung over his shoulders, he resembled some ancient mythological demigod.
But now, gentle reader, while our hero sits moping under the bridge, let iis lcave him for a while and turn to the young lady who was fishing. What has become of her? When the fair creature awoke and could see no sign of her float she hurriedly tugged on thc line. The linc tautened, but ncithcr float nor hook appeared. Presumably Pitsikatoff's bouquet h.id become water-logged and turncd into a dcad wcight.
'Either I'vc caught a big fish,' thought the girl, 'or the line has got entangled.'
After anothcr couple of tugs she decided it was the latter.
'What a pity!" she thought. 'They bite so much better towards dusk. What shall I do?'
In the twinkling of an cye the ecccntric young lady had cast aside her diaphanous garments and immersed hcr beauteous pcrson in the cooling strcam right up to her marble-white shoulders. The line was all tangled up in the bouquet, and it was no easy matter extricating the hook, but perseverance triumphcd in the end, and some fifteen minutes later our lovely heroine emerged from the water all glowing and happy, holding the hook in her hand.
But a malevolent fate had been watching out for her too: the wretches who had stolen Pitsikatoff's clothing had removed hers as well, leaving behind only her jar of bait.
'What am I to do?' she wept. 'Go home in this state? No, never! I would rather die! I shall wait until nightfall, then walk as far as old Agatha's cottage in the dark and send her to the house for some clothes . . . And in the meantime I'll go and hide under the little bridge.'
Our heroine scuttled off in that direction, bending low and keep- ing to where the grass was longest. She crept in under the bridge, saw a naked man there with artistic mane and hairy chest, screamed, and fell down in a swoon.
Pitsikatoff got a fright too. At first he took the girl for a naiad.
'Perhaps 'tis a water-sprite,' he thought, 'come to lure me away?', and felt flattered by the notion, since he had always had a high opinion ofhis appearance. 'But ifit is not a spritebuta human being, how is this strange metamorphosis to be explained? What is she doing here under the bridge, and what has befallen her?'
As he pondered these questions the fair one recovered conscious- ness.
'Do not kill me!' she whispered. 'I am the Princess Bibuloff. I beseech you! They'll give you lots of money! I was disentangling my fishing-hook just now and some thieves stole my new dress and shoes and everything!'
'Mademoiselle,' Pitsikatoff replied plaintively, 'they've stolen my clothes too - and the rosin I had in my trouser pocket!'
Usually people who play the double-bass or the trombone are not very inventive, but Pitsikatoff was a pleasant exception.
'Mademoiselle,' he said after a pause, 'I see that my appearance embarrasses you. You must agree, though, that there is just as good reason for me to stay under here as for you. But I have had an idea: how would it be if you were to get into the case of my double-bass and close the lid? Then you wouldn't see me . . .'
So saying, Pitsikatoff dragged the double-bass out of its case. Just for a moment he wondered whether he might be profaning Art by using his case thus, but his hesitation did not last long. The fair one lay down in the case and curled up in a ball, while he fastened the straps with a feeling of pleasure that nature had endowed him with such intelligence.
'Now, mademoiselle, you cannot see me,' he said. 'You can lie there and relax, and when it gets dark I shall carry you to your parents' house. I can come backhere for the double-bass afterwards.'
When darkness fell Pitsikatoff heaved the case with the fair one inside onto his shoulders and padded offtowards Bibuloff's villa. His plan was that he should walk as he was to the nearest cottage, get some clothing there, and then go on ...
'It's an ill wind that blows nobody good . . .' he thought, bending under his burden and stirring up the dust with his bare feet. 'No doubt Bibuloff will reward me handsomely for thedeep concern that I have shown over his daughter's fate.'
'I trust you are comfortable, mademoiselle?' he enquired with a note of gallantry in his voice like that of a gentleman inviting a lady to dance a quadrille. 'Please don't stand on ceremony. Do make yourself at home in there.'
Suddenly the gallant Pitsikatoff thought he saw ahead of him two figures shrouded in darkness. Peering more closely he assured him- selfthat it was not an optical illusion: there really were two figures walking ahead and - they were carrying bundles of some kind . ..
'The thieves!' it flashed through his mind. 'I bet that's who it is! And they're carrying something - must be our clothes!'
Pitsikatoff put the case down at the side of the road and chased after the figures.
'Stop!' he shouted. 'Stop thief!'
The figures looked round, and seeing they were pursued, took to their heels. The Princess continued to hear the sound of rapid foot- steps and cries of 'Stop, stop!' for a long timc, then all was quiet.
Pitsikatoff was quite carried away by the chase, and no doubt the fair one would have been lying out there at the roadside for a long time to come, had it not bcen for a lucky chance. It so happened that Pitsikatoff's two colleagues, Dronin the flute and Flamboisky the clarinet, were making their way along the road at that same time. Tripping over the double-bass case, they looked at each other with expressions of surprse and puzzlcment.
'A double-bass!' said Dronin. 'Why, it's old Pitsikatoffs! How could it have got here?'
'Something must have happened to him,' Flamboisky decided. 'Either he's got drunk or he's been robbed . . . Anyway we can't leave his instrument lying here. Let's take it with us.'
Dronin heaved the case onto his back and the musicians walked on.
'What a ruddy weight!' the flautist kept groaning all the way. 'I wouldn't play a monster like this for all the tea in China . . . Phew!'
When they arrived at Prince BibulofPs villa they deposited the case at the place reserved for the orchestra and went off to the buffet.
By now the chandeliers and candelabras were being lit. Princess Bibuloff's fiance, Counsellor Sikofantoff, a nice handsome official from the Mmistry of Communications, was standing in the drawing-room with his hands in his pockets, chatting to Count Tipplovitch. They were talking about music.
'You know, Count,' said Sikofantoff, 'in Naples I was personally acquainted with a violinist who could do absolute marvels. You'll hardly believe it, but he could get the most fantastic trills out of a double-bass - an ordinary double-bass -stupendous! He could play Strauss waltzes on the thing!'
'Come now, that's scarcely -' the Count objected.
'I assure you he could. He could even play Liszt's Hungarian rhapsody ! I shared a hotel room with him and to pass the time I got him to teach me Liszt's Hungarian rhapsody on the double-bass.'