Any little hesitation I may have felt passed entirely unnoticed,
from the lucky incident of a round happening at that moment to go
by. And during the interval of silence there occurred something
that sent my blood to the boil. There was a private in our shed
called Clausel, a man of a very ugly disposition. He had made one
of the followers of Goguelat; but, whereas Goguelat had always a
kind of monstrous gaiety about him, Clausel was no less morose than
he was evil-minded. He was sometimes called the General, and
sometimes by a name too ill-mannered for repetition. As we all sat
listening, this man's hand was laid on my shoulder, and his voice
whispered in my ear: 'If you don't go, I'll have you hanged,
Marquis!'

As soon as the round was past--'Certainly, gentlemen!' said I. 'I
will give you a lead, with all the pleasure in the world. But,
first of all, there is a hound here to be punished. M. Clausel has
just insulted me, and dishonoured the French army; and I demand
that he run the gauntlet of this shed.'

There was but one voice asking what he had done, and, as soon as I
had told them, but one voice agreeing to the punishment. The
General was, in consequence, extremely roughly handled, and the
next day was congratulated by all who saw him on his NEW
DECORATIONS. It was lucky for us that he was one of the prime
movers and believers in our project of escape, or he had certainly
revenged himself by a denunciation. As for his feelings towards
myself, they appeared, by his looks, to surpass humanity; and I
made up my mind to give him a wide berth in the future.

Had I been to go down that instant, I believe I could have carried