Corniche, or by small boat-loads, which could slip unnoticed along
the coast. These precarious supplies were scarcely enough to
provide, from day to day, sufficient food to support the troops; but,
happily, the country produced plenty of wine, which enabled them to
bear their privations with more resignation.

One fine day I was walking along the beach with my mentor when
we came on a "taverna," where there was a charming garden planted with
orange and lemon trees, under which were tables at which sat soldiers
of all kinds. He suggested that we went there, and although I had
never overcome my distaste for wine, I agreed, simply to please him.

In those days the cavalryman's belt did not have a hook, so that
when we went on foot, it was necessary to hold up the scabbard of the
sabre with one's left hand, and one could allow the end to trail on
the ground. This made a noise on the pavement, and looked rather
dashing, so of course I had to adopt this way of doing things. Thus
it happened that as we went into this garden, the end of my scabbard
came in contact with the foot of an enormous horse-gunner, who was
sprawled on his chair with his legs sticking out. The horse
artillery had been formed at the beginning of the revolutionary wars
from men taken from the companies of Grenadiers, who took advantage
of the occasion to get rid of their most troublesome characters. The
men of the flying artillery, as it was then called, were known for
their dash, but also for their love of quarreling.

The one whose foot the end of my scabbard had touched, shouted to
me in a very rude tone of voice, "Hussar, your sabre drags too much!"
I was going to walk on without saying any thing, when master
Pertelay, nudging me with his elbow, whispered, "Tell him to come