especially as I am going into the army some day; that is if I get back
again in time."

"Oh, I think you will do so," the man said. "You keep up your spirits
well, and that is the great thing. There are many boys that would sit
down and cry if they found themselves in such a scrape as you have got
into."

"Cry!" Ralph repeated indignantly. "You don't suppose a boy of my age
is going to cry like a girl! An English boy would be ashamed to cry,
especially when Frenchmen were looking on."

Jacques laughed good-temperedly. "There would be nothing to be ashamed
of. We are not like you cold English! A Frenchman laughs and sings
when he is pleased, and cries when he is sorry. Why shouldn't he?"

"Oh, I can't tell you why," Ralph replied, "only we don't do it. I
don't say I shouldn't halloo out if I were hurt very much, though I
should try my best not to; but I feel sure I shouldn't cry like a
great baby. Why, what would be the good of it?"

Jacques shrugged his shoulders. "People are different," he said. "A
man is not a coward because he cries. I have seen two boys fighting
and pulling each other's hair and crying all the time, but they fought
on. They did not cry because they were afraid."

"Pulling each other's hair!" Ralph repeated contemptuously. "They
ought to have been ashamed of themselves, both of them. I don't call
that fighting at all. I should call it disgusting. Why, in England
even girls would hardly pull each other's hair. I have seen two or