"You big pig! Twenty pounds! You hear me!..Twenty pounds or I’ll croak you! ”
That doesn’t trouble the old guy… on the contrary!.. you’d think it delighted him… he immediately grabs his moneybag… he who’s usually so shrewd.. who’d skin a flea. he lays the bag on his belly, his big game pouch. He opens it wide!. He plunges into it. It’s the charm acting!
..and no mistake!. it’s miraculous!.. We stand there pop-eyed looking at him!. He’s being as nice as can be. It doesn’t matter that he’s coughing and snorting, he smiles anyhow! he drools, clears his throat, spits out his asthma! with enormous effort! Another big whoop. an awful one!. And then he turns his whole bag inside out. there, plop! on the bed!. clink! clink! clink!.. a wave of gold pouring out!.. all over the furs. the bedspread!. the rugs!. How it flows!.. sparkles!.. clinks!.. I plunge Boro’s hand right into it, right in the cool glittering flood. and then all the coins suddenly go flying off! right in front of our eyes!.. all the money!.. they whirl around! spangle! scatter!.. the whole magic flutter! across the room!. I see a hundred, I see a thousand louis! little ones, big ones, sovereigns!. I’ve never seen so much dough!..The way it twinkles in the atmosphere! nice and dainty! frisky! flighty!. it lights up the whole shop!. with gold and glints. it tinkles!. I stand there popeyed!.. The others are getting a hell of a kick out of me!
.. They’re laughing.. howling at me.. the way I stand there like a dope!. The old guy opens his bag again.. leaves it yawning in the air and all the coins flutter in! come home to the dark hole!. rushing in like little birds into a cage!.. And then he spills it all out again! It tumbles over the table!
.. the whole heap shining!.. It’s time to wash our hands!..
All three of us plunge into the pile, Boro, me, Delphine..
We give our hands a good washing in the treasure!. boy, it’s pretty extraordinary… It’s a real hallucination!.. Suddenly we feel like smoking again!.. And Delphine’s the one egging us on. Ah! mustn’t weaken! in spite of the nausea!
since that’s what prodigies are like! Strength, by the God of the Treasure!. happiness in the air!. you can see it!.. we’re not scared!.. the nausea’s getting worse! We’ll puke it all out!.. We’re down to the last cigarettes!. They’re really intoxicating weeds!. The old guy keeps jeering!. He’s shaking the whole shop with his snickering.. Especially since he’s choking too…
"Stop it, you hyena! Stop it!” Boro yells at him.
The bawling-out steps him up! What joy! he writhes! he chortles!. He keeps guffawing like mad!. We start laughing too! and big cluck-cluckings.. We’re making big gurgling belly music! it echoes all through the joint. That’s the noise we’re making now… It was Delphine who started it.. Cigarettes like that make you awfully thirsty! so hot and bitter!.. There’s nothing left to drink!. It’s awful!.. We start counting all the gold again!.. We’re so god-damned hilarious that we’re practically fainting with laughter!..
No one’d ever seen The Horror displaying all his gold on the table! his entire treasure!.. all the money!. and he’s busting with exaltation! I was helping him hold down the little rascals!. Take it easy!. None of that!. they’re beating it! running out the door!. Oh God!. wide-open there!. Whizzing off!. at top speed!. We all pile on them!. We crush them!. We squash everything!. right on top of them!.. Right on the bed!.. flat on our bellies!
All three of us!. in the big fur!. like nice pleasant friends!. you’d think they were delighted rummaging around in the fortune.. rolling in it on the bed. wallowing in the big heap of gold. It was Boro who got rough… he started it!
Ah! that’s a fact! He wanted to eat one of the coins!.. just swallow it down!. all raw!. a half-guinea! 10 shillings! 6 pence! and then ten!. and then fifteen at a time!
.. whole mouthfuls.. The old man says something to him.. Right off Boro gets red and green with anger!..
Ah! right off, immediately!
"Claben! listen!” he barks at him. "Go on! you’re eating them, too! You big slob! You louse! You big pansy!”
That’s what he calls him!..
"Open your mug! ”
The old guy was giggling so that he couldn’t defend himself!
.. Fell flat on his back with his mouth open. Then Boro starts cramming him. he stuffs him. he rams it down!.. coins by the fistful. like that, by force!. The old guy swallows it all! He puffs for a second!. and poof he rams in another!. another fistful!
"Go on papa! go on! have some salt with it!”
That’s how he talks to him.
No pity!
Delphine was holding up her big darling’s head while Boro was stuffing him. She was giving him big kisses. smack! smack! smack! on his big cheeks… on his big jowls. The old guy’s appetite was enormous! In spite of his choking he kept wanting more! still more!..he wanted to wolf it all down. another little one!. another one!. all the coins!
… all the little coins there on the table!.. The whole pile!. he was still hungry!. He chewed everything! he gobbled it all!.. the greedy pig!
"Another one!. Another!” he kept calling. His throat was full.. shaking with wild laughter!.. his belly was full, making noises. it jingled in his pants!. the more it jingled, the more he laughed!.. his whole paunch making golden noise!
"Another one!.. Another one!.. My love! ”
Delphine kept encouraging him that way… to swallow two, three more!.. There were none left on the table, since he’d gobbled them up. or on the bed either. They turned his bag inside out.. they slapped the bottom.. Nothing left!.. Nothing at all! He’d guzzled them all!. all the gold!. Ah! the big fat dirty glutton!. And he was exulting, delighted!
.. through his coughing fits!.. He couldn’t stop laughing, the freak!. His whole guts jingling!. All the gold in it! hardware!. Jangling! Jingling!. Ah! he was feeling much better!. He sits up. He wants to smarten up, put on makeup!. a little lipstick!. do his eyelashes!. his eyebrows.. Kittenish! Kittenish!
"I want to love you, you little rascal! you little savage!”.. he’s teasing me. He’s steaming, drooling, bubbling, grunting. I can’t move any more. I’m not like him. I feel like lead!. My head! legs! everything!. I’m groggy!. I force myself. uh! uh!. I’m rolling. I tumble off the bed. He grabs hold of me… he hoists me up… he puts me down near them..