In the course of the evening Mignot came in, and confidentially took the
other chair. He wished to state that he had three _associes_ in working
the glaciere, and that one of them knew of a similar cave, half an hour
from the one more generally known; the _associe_ had found it two years
before, and had not seen it since, and he believed that no one else knew
where it was to be found. If I cared to visit it, the _associe_ would
accompany us, but there was some particular reason--here he relapsed
into patois--why this other man could not by himself serve as guide to
both glacieres. As this meant that I must have two guides, and suggested
that perhaps the right rendering of _associe_ was 'accomplice,' the
negotiation nearly came to a violent end; but the farmer was so
extremely explanatory and convincing, that I gave him another chance,
asking him how much the two meant to have, and telling him that,
although I could not see the necessity for two guides, I only wished to
do what was right. He expressed his conviction of the truth of this
statement with such fervour, that I could only hope his moderation might
be as great as his faith.
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