perhaps to fight against us once more."

"I beg your pardon, General," said John, "but I'm no Yankee."

"What, denying your birthright! I never heard an American do that
before! Everybody knows you're a Yankee."

"Pardon me. General, you and all other Europeans make a mistake about
the Yankees. At home the people of the Southern States generally apply
it to those living in the Northern states, but in the North it is
carried still further and is properly applied to the residents of the
six New England states. I don't come from one of those states, and so
I'm not in a real sense a Yankee."

"What, sir, have I, a Frenchman, to do with your local distinctions?
Yankees you all are and Yankee you shall remain. It's a fine name, and
from what I've seen in this war you're great fighting men, worthy to
stand with Frenchmen."

"Thank you for the compliment, General," said John, smiling. "Hereafter
I shall always remain a Yankee."

"And now do you and your friends take your food there with de Rougemont.
I've had my breakfast, and a big and good one it was. I'm going to the
edge of the hill and use my glasses."

He waddled away, looking more than ever an enormous, good-natured bear.
John's heart, as always, warmed to him. Truly he was the father of his
children, ten thousand or more, who fought around him, and for whose
welfare he had a most vigilant eye and mind.