"I'll give you a toast," said La Croix. "Here's gunpowder."
Jacintha promptly honored the toast with a flood of tears.
"Drop that, Jacintha," said Dard, angrily; "do you think that is
encouraging? Sergeant, I told this poor girl all about glory before you
came, but she was not ripe for it: say something to cheer her up, for I
can't."
"I can," cried this trumpet of battle, emptying its glass. "Attention,
young woman."
"Oh, dear! oh, dear! yes, sir."
"A French soldier is a man who carries France in his heart"--
"But if the cruel foreign soldiers kill him? Oh!"
"Why, in that case, he does not care a straw. Every man must die; horses
likewise, and dogs, and donkeys, when they come to the end of
their troubles; but dogs and donkeys and chaps in blouses can't die
gloriously; as Dard may, if he has any luck at all: so, from this hour,
if there was twice as little of him, be proud of him, for from this
time he is a part of France and her renown. Come, recruit ninety-nine,
shoulder your traps at duty's call, and let us go forth in form.
Attention! Quick--march! Halt! is that the way I showed you to march?
Didn't I tell you to start from the left? Now try again.
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