Bazillac.'
'What is this Mont-Bazillac?' we asked: and they told us--well,
pretty much what you told me just now--adding, however, that the
landlord kept a few precious bottles of it. They were quite fair in
their warnings."

"Which, of course, you disregarded."

"For the honour of England. We rang for the landlord--a decent
fellow, Sebillot by name--and at first, I may tell you, he wasn't at
all keen on producing the stuff; kept protesting that he had but a
small half-dozen left, that his daughter was to be married in the
autumn, and he had meant to keep it for the wedding banquet.
However, the bagmen helping, we persuaded him to bring up two
bottles. A frantic price it was, too--frantic for _us_.
Seven francs a bottle."

"It was four francs fifty even in my time."

"The two bottles were opened. Jinks took his, and I took mine.
We had each _arrosed_ the dinner with about a pint of Bordeaux;
nothing to count. We looked at each other straight. I said, 'Be a
man, Jinks! _A votre sante messieurs!_' and we started. . . . As you
said just now, it's a most innocent-tasting wine."

"As a matter of fact, I didn't say so. Still, you are right."

"The fourth and fifth glasses, too, seemed to have no more kick in
them than the first. . . . Nothing much seemed to be happening,
except that Sebillot had brought in an extra lamp--at any rate, the
room was brighter, and I could see the bagmen's faces more distinctly
as they smiled and congratulated us. I drank off the last glass
'to the honour of England,' and suggested to Jinks--who had kept pace
with me, glass for glass--that we should take a stroll and view the
town. There was a fair (as I had heard) across the bridge. . . .
We stood up together. I had been feeling nervous about Jinks, and it
came as a relief to find that he was every bit as steady on his legs
as I was. We said good evening to the bagmen and walked out into the
street. 'Up the hill or down?' asked Jinks, and I explained to him
very clearly that, since rivers followed the bottoms of their
valleys, we should be safe in going downhill if we wanted to find the
bridge. And I'd scarcely said the words before it flashed across me
that I was drunk as Chloe.

"Here's another thing.--I'd never been drunk before, and I haven't
been drunk since: but all the same I knew that this wasn't the least
like ordinary drunkenness: it was too--what shall I say?--too
brilliant. The whole town of Bergerac belonged t