"I never questioned thy state being Geneva; I only wonder thou shouldst
doubt my being Nicklaus Wagner! I can journey the darkest night that ever
threw a shadow from the mountains, any where between the Jura and the
Oberland, and none, shall say my word is to be disputed. Look 'ee, there
is the patron, Baptiste, who will tell thee, that if he were to land the
freight which is shipped in my name, his bark would float greatly the
lighter."

All this time Nicklaus was nothing loth to show his papers, which were
quite in rule. He even held them, with a thumb and finger separating the
folds, ready to be presented to his questioner. The hesitation came from a
feeling of wounded vanity, which would gladly show that one of his local
importance and known substance was to be exempt from the exactions
required from men of smaller means. The officer, who had great practice in
this species of collision with his fellow-creatures, understood the
character with which he had to deal, and, seeing no good reason for
refusing to gratify a feeling which was innocent, though sufficiently
silly, he yielded to the Bernese pride.

"Thou canst proceed," he said, turning the indulgence to account, with a
ready knowledge of his duty; "and when thou gettest again among thy
burghers, do us of Geneva the grace to say^ we treat our allies fairly."

"I thought thy question hasty!" exclaimed the wealthy peasant, swelling
like one who gets justice, though tardily. "Now let us to this knotty
affair of the headsman."

Taking his place with the Neapolitan and the Westphalian, Nicklaus assumed
the grave air of a judge, and an austerity of manner which proved that he