midnight before
The second time ; a trifle more familiarised with the idea , he replied , `` Very likely ; '' and the third time , `` It 's certain . '' Finally , in the evening , at Costecalde 's and the club , carried away by the egg-nogg , cheers , and illumination ; intoxicated by the impression that bare announcement of his departure had made on the town , the hapless fellow formally declared that he was sick of banging away at caps , and that he would shortly be on the trail of the great lions of the Atlas . A deafening hurrah greeted this assertion . Whereupon more egg-nogg , bravoes , handshaking , slappings of the shoulder , and a torchlight serenade up to midnight before Baobab Villa . It was Sancho-Tartarin who was anything but delighted . This idea of travel in Africa and lion-hunting made him shudder beforehand ; and when the house was re-entered , and whilst the complimentary concert was sounding under the windows , he had a dreadful `` row '' with Quixote-Tartarin , calling him a cracked head , a visionary , imprudent , and thrice an idiot , and detailing by the card all the catastrophes awaiting him on such an expedition -- shipwreck , rheumatism , yellow fever , dysentery , the black plague , elephantiasis , and the rest of them . In vain did Quixote-Tartarin vow that he had not committed any imprudence -- that he would wrap himself up well , and take even superfluous necessaries with him .