t of his half-closed eyes, unmoved among the general
uproar. If there was any remnant of resentment in the bosom of the
volunteer since the time when the corporal had inflicted such a bitter
humiliation on him by forcing him to resume his abandoned musket, now
was a fine chance to set the two men by the ears.

"I know some folks who talk of shooting us," Chouteau continued, with
an ugly look at Jean; "dirty, miserable skunks, who treat us worse than
beasts, and, when a man's back is broken with the weight of his knapsack
and Brownbess, _aie_! _aie_! object to his planting them in the fields
to see if a new crop will grow from them. What do you suppose they would
say, comrades, _hein_! now that we are masters, if we should pitch them
all out upon the track, and teach them better manners? That's the way
to do, _hein_! We'll show 'em that we won't be bothered any longer with
their mangy wars. Down with Badinguet's bed-bugs! Death to the curs who
want to make us fight!"

Jean's face was aflame with the crimson tide that never failed to rush
to his cheeks in his infrequent fits of anger. He rose, wedged in though
as he was between his neighbors as firmly as in a vise, and his blazing
eyes and doubled fists had such a look of business about them that the
other quailed.

"_Tonnerre de Dieu!_ will you be silent, pig! For hours I have sat here
without saying anything, because we have no longer any leaders, and I
could not even send you to the guard-house. Yes, there's no doubt of it,
it would be a good thing to shoot such men as you and rid the regiment
of the vermin. But see here, as there's no longer any discipline, I
will attend to your case myself. There's no corporal here now, but a
hard-fisted fellow who is tired of listening to your jaw, and he'll see
if he can't make you keep your potato-trap shut. Ah! you d----d coward!
You won't fight yourself and you want to keep others from fighting!
Repeat your words once and I'll knock your head off!"

By this time the whole car, won over by Jean's manly attitude, had
deserted Chouteau, who cowered back in his seat as if not anxious to
face his opponent's big fists.

"And I care no more for Badinguet than I do for you, do you understand?
I despise politics, whether they are republican or imperial, and now, as
in the past, when I used to cultivate my little farm, there is but
one thing that I wish for, and that is the happiness of all, peace
and good-order, freedom for every ma