than to good curacoa.'

'What, curacoa! Mere Madou, has got curacoa there?' cried a
grey-whiskered captain, as he turned on his saddle at the word.

'Yes, _mon capitaine_, and such as no burgomaster ever drank better';
and she filled out a little glass and presented it gracefully to him.

'_Encore! ma bonne mere_,' said he, as he wiped his thick moustache;
'that liquor is another reason for extending the blessings of liberty to
the brave Dutch.'

'Didn't I tell you so?' said she, refilling the glass; 'but, holloa,
there goes Gregoire at full speed. Ah, scoundrels that ye are, I see
what ye 've done.' And so was it; some of the wild young voltigeur
fellows had fastened a lighted furze-bush to the beast's tail, and had
set him at a gallop through the very middle of the encampment, upsetting
tents, scattering cooking-pans, and tumbling the groups, as they sat, in
every direction.

The confusion was tremendous, for the picketed horses jumped about, and
some, breaking loose, galloped here and there, while others set off with
half-unpacked waggons, scattering their loading as they went.

It was only when the blazing furze had dropped off, that the whole cause
of the mischance would suffer himself to be captured and led quietly
back to his mistress. Half crying with joy, and still wild with anger,
she kissed the beast and abused her tormentors by turns.

'Cannoniers that ye are,' she cried, '_ma foi_! you'll have little taste
for fire when the day comes that ye should face it! _Pauvre_ Gregoire,
they've left thee a tail like a tirailleur's feather! Plagues light
on the thieves that did it! Come here, boy,' said she, addressing me,
'hold, the bridle; what's thy corps, lad?'

'I have none now; I only followed the soldiers from Paris.'

'Away with thee, street runner; away with thee, then,' said she
contemptuously; 'there are no pockets to pick here; and if there were,
thou 'd lose thy ears for the doing it. Be off, then--back with thee
to Paris and all its villainies. There are twenty thousand of thy trade
there, but there's work for ye all.'

'Nay, mere, don't be harsh with the boy,' said a soldier; 'you can see
by his coat that his heart is with us.'

'And he stole that, I'll be sworn,' said she, pulling me round, by the
arm, full in front of her. 'Answer me, _gamin_, where didst find that
old tawdry jacket?'

'I got it in a place where, if they had hold of thee and thy bad tongue,
it would fare worse with thee t