His tongue fired the inexperienced soul with
a love of arms, as do the drums and trumpets and tramp of soldiers,
and their bayonets glittering in the sun. He would have been worth his
weight in fustian here, where we recruit by that and jargon; he was
superfluous in France, where they recruited by force: but he was
ornamental: and he set Dard and one or two more on fire. Indeed, so
absorbing was his sense of military glory, that there was no room left
in him for that mere verbal honor civilians call veracity.
To speak plainly, the sergeant was a fluent, fertile, interesting,
sonorous, prompt, audacious liar: and such was his success, that Dard
and one or two more became mere human fiction pipes--of comparatively
small diameter--irrigating a rural district with false views of military
life, derived from that inexhaustible reservoir, La Croix.
At last the long-threatened conscription was levied: every person fit to
bear arms, and not coming under the allowed exceptions, drew a number:
and at a certain hour the numbers corresponding to these were deposited
in an urn, and one-third of them were drawn in presence of the
authorities.
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