know--but those, I shall run 'em through--Bing!--full in the
linen-cupboard."

"I, too."

"Not to mention," says Pepin, "that they've got silver hats,
and pistols that you can get four quid for whenever you like, and
field-glasses that simply haven't got a price. Ah, bad luck, what a
lot of chances I let slip in the early part of the campaign! I was
too much of a beginner then, and it serves me right. But don't
worry, I shall get a silver hat. Mark my words, I swear I'll have
one. I must have not only the skin of one of Wilhelm's red-tabs, but
his togs as well. Don't fret yourself; I'll fasten on to that before
the war ends."

"You think it'll have an end, then?" asks some one.

"Don't worry!" replies the other.

* * * * * *

Meanwhile, a hubbub has arisen to the right of us, and suddenly a
moving and buzzing group appears, in which dark and bright forms
mingle.

"What's all that?"

Biquet has ventured on a reconnaissance, and returns contemptuously
pointing with his thumb towards the motley mass: "Eh, boys! Come and
have a squint at them! Some people!"