ng first deposited their discarded uniforms in the
basket, which they placed on the ground in a dark corner of the tent and
abandoned to its fate. There was a circumstance that gave them no small
uneasiness, however; they found only one head-covering, a knitted woolen
cap, which Jean insisted Maurice should wear. The former, fearing his
bare-headedness might excite suspicion, was hanging about the precincts
of the camp on the lookout for a covering of some description, when it
occurred to him to purchase his hat from an extremely dirty old man who
was selling cigars.

"Brussels cigars, three sous apiece, two for five!"

Customs regulations were in abeyance since the battle of Sedan, and the
imports of Belgian merchandise had been greatly stimulated. The old man
had been making a handsome profit from his traffic, but that did not
prevent him from driving a sharp bargain when he understood the reason
why the two men wanted to buy his hat, a greasy old affair of felt with
a great hole in its crown. He finally consented to part with it for two
five-franc pieces, grumbling that he should certainly have a cold in his
head.

Then Jean had another idea, which was neither more nor less than to buy
out the old fellow's stock in trade, the two dozen cigars that remained
unsold. The bargain effected, he pulled his hat down over his eyes and
began to cry in the itinerant hawker's drawling tone:

"Here you are, Brussels cigars, two for three sous, two for three sous!"

Their safety was now assured. He signaled Maurice to go on before. It
happened to the latter to discover an umbrella lying on the grass; he
picked it up and, as a few drops of rain began to fall just then, opened
it tranquilly as they were about to pass the line of sentries.

"Two for three sous, two for three sous, Brussels cigars!"

It took Jean less than two minutes to dispose of his stock of
merchandise. The men came crowding about him with chaff and laughter:
a reasonable fellow, that; he didn't rob poor chaps of their money! The
Prussians themselves were attracted by such unheard-of bargains, and he
was compelled to trade with them. He had all the time been working his
way toward the edge of the enceinte, and his last two cigars went to
a big sergeant with an immense beard, who could not speak a word of
French.

"Don't walk so fast, confound it!" Jean breathed in a whisper behind
Maurice's back. "You'll have them after us."

Their legs seemed inclined t