s I came through Dijon; and I
said to him that I should be surprised if you did not turn up soon,
especially when I heard from him that you were at Mayence, only two
days' tramp from the frontier."

"But what are you doing here, colonel?"

"Just at present, I am working at headquarters. Between ourselves,
the army of the east is coming round to join Aurelles. Our poor
fellows were pretty nearly used up, and I found that I could do
little real good with the other corps. So I gave up the command;
and was sent here to confer with Gambetta, and he has kept me.

"Now, what are you going to do?"

"We were going to report ourselves, colonel."

"No use going today--too late. Come and dine with me, at the
Bordeaux. Have you got rooms?"

"Not yet, colonel."

"Then I can tell you you won't get them, at all. The place is
crowded--not a bed to be had, for love or money. I've got rooms, by
the greatest good luck. One of you can have the sofa; the other an
armchair, or the hearth rug, whichever suits you best."

"Thank you, very much; we shall do capitally," the boys said.

"And now, have you any news from Paris?"

"We have no late news from Paris but, worse still, the news gets
very slowly and irregularly into Paris. The pigeons seem to get
bewildered with the snow, or else the Prussians shoot them."

"But surely, with such an immense circle to guard, there could be
no great difficulty in a messenger finding his way in?"

"There is a difficulty, and a very great one," Colonel Tempe said;
"for of all who have tried, only one or two have succeeded. Now
come along, or we shall be late for dinner."

It was a curious medley at the table d'hote, at the Hotel de
Bordeaux. Generals, with their breasts covered with orders, and
simple franc tireurs; officers, of every arm of the service;
ministers and members of the late Corps Legislatif; an American
gentleman, with his family; English newspaper correspondents; army
contractors; and families, refugees from Paris. After dinner they
went to a cafe--literally crowded with officers--and thence to
Colonel Tempe's rooms, where they sat down quietly, to chat over
what had taken place since the last visit.

"But where is your Irishman? Your father told me he was with you. I
suppose you could not get him out."

"Oh yes, Tim's here," Ralph said, laughing, "but he ran across a
couple of Irishmen belonging to the foreign legion and--as he would
have been in our way, and we did not know