ards:

"We killed a dozen Frenchmen in that village, and took more than a
hundred prisoners."

The Englishman, quite interested, immediately asked:

"Ha! and what is the name of this village?"

The Prussian replied:

"Pharsbourg."

He added: "We caught these French blackguards by the ears."

And he glanced towards M. Dubuis, laughing into his moustache in an
insulting fashion.

The train rolled on, always passing through hamlets occupied by the
victorious army. German soldiers could be seen along the roads, on the
edges of fields, standing in front of gates, or chatting outside
_cafes_. They covered the soil like African locusts.

The officer said, with a wave of his hand:

"If I were in command, I'd take Paris, burn everything, kill
everybody. No more France!"

The Englishman, through politeness, replied simply:

"Ah! yes."

He went on:

"In twenty years, all Europe, all of it, will belong to us. Prussia is
more than a match for all of them."

The Englishmen, getting uneasy, said nothing in answer to this. Their
faces, which had become impassive, seemed made of wax behind their
long whiskers. Then, the Prussian officer began to laugh. And still,
lolling back, he began to sneer. He sneered at the downfall of France,
insulted the prostrate enemy; he sneered at Austria which had been
recently conquered; he sneered at the furious but fruitless defense of
the departments; he sneered at the Garde Mobile and at the useless
artillery. He announced that Bismarck was going to build a city of
iron with the captured cannon. And suddenly he pushed his boots
against the thigh of M. Dubuis, who turned his eyes round, reddening
to the roots of his hair.

The Englishmen seemed to have assumed an air of complete indifference,
as if they had found themselves all at once shut up in their own
island, far from the din of the world.

The officer took out his pipe, and looking fixedly at the Frenchman,
said:

"You haven't any tobacco--have you?"

M. Dubuis replied:

"No, monsieur."

The German said:

"You might go and buy some for me when the train stops next."

And he began laughing afresh, as he added:

"I'll let you have the price of a drink."

The train whistled, and slackened its pace. They had reached the
station which had been burnt down; and here there was a regular stop.

The German opened the carriage-door, and, catching M. Dubuis by the
arm, said:

"Go and do what I told you--quick, quick!"