He rode over bridges that were curved like arches.
From below or from the opposite bank they looked like cats arching their iron backs before springing.
There were sentries at the approach to every bridge.
They sat around on their drums, smoking their pipes, playing cards and yawning as they stared at the stars.
Doctor Caspar looked about and listened as he drove on.
From the streets, from the houses, from the open tavern windows and from behind the park fences he could hear snatches of a song:
They've caught the horrid Prospero And caged him like an ape, With an iron collar round his neck- To see he won't escape!
A drunken fop was singing it, too.
The fop's aunt had just died. She had a lot of money, still more ugly freckles and not a single other relative.
The fop had just inherited all his aunt's money.
That is why he was angry at the people for rising up against the rule of the rich.
There was a big act on at the animal show.
Three fat and hairy monkeys on a wooden stage were supposed to be the Three Fat Men.
A terrier was playing the mandolin.
A clown dressed in a bright red suit with a golden sun on his back and a golden star on his stomach was reciting a poem to the music:
These Three Fat Men- so fat are they, They drink and gobble night and day. The only pastime that they know Is to watch their bellies grow.
Beware, fat pigs, the time will come When you will pay for what you've done.
"The time will come!" bearded parrots screeched from all sides.
There was a terrible din.
The animals in the cages began to bark, growl, chatter and whistle.
The monkeys dashed to and fro on the stage.
It was hard to tell their arms from their legs.
Finally, they jumped down, scrambling over the heads and shoulders of the screeching audience.
The fattest men there were making the most noise.
Their faces red with anger, they threw their hats and canes at the clown.
A fat lady shook her umbrella at him and caught another fat lady's hat instead.
"Oh! Ah!" the other fat lady screamed and waved her arms, because her wig had come off together with her hat.
One of the monkeys clapped its hand on the lady's bald head as it rushed by.
She fainted straight away.
"Ha-ha-ha!"
"Ha-ha-ha!" the rest of the crowd laughed. These people were much thinner and were more shabbily dressed. "Bravo!
Bravo!"
"Get'em!"
"Down with the Three Fat Men!"
"Long live Prospero!
Long live Tibul!
Long live, the people!"
Just then someone shouted still louder:
"Fire!
The town's on fire!"
Everyone made a rush for the exits, pushing and shoving and turning over the benches.
The animal keepers were trying to catch the monkeys.
The driver of the doctor's carriage turned round and said, pointing with his whip:
"The Guards are setting fire to the workers' quarters.
They want to find Tibul the Acrobat."
The pink glow of fire was spreading over the town and lighting up the dark houses.
When the doctor's carriage reached the main square, which was called Star Square, it could go no further, for there were many other carriages, men on horseback and people crowding them from all sides.
"What's going on here?" the doctor asked.
But no one answered, because they were all busy craning their necks, trying to see what was going on in the square.
The doctor's driver stood up on his box and also looked in that direction.