a letter,
about as fast as a stroke of lightning, and admirably filled the place
of the modern telegraph. For each meal he took three seeds of hemp,
which he loved to receive from the king's hand. By and by the little
yellow man became more of a gourmand. He demanded seed-pearls, and the
king was obliged to rob the queen's jewel-boxes. Then the yellow dwarf's
appetite changed, and he required stars, orders and garters: one by one
the obedient monarch gave him the decorations of count, marquis, duke.
The demon's name was Chamillo.

[Illustration: A GRAND MONARCH AND A LITTLE YELLOW IMP.]

"One day the small devil-duke of a Chamillo hovered over the imperial
free city of Strasburg. Entering by key-holes and doors ajar, he stole
into the presence of the principal magistrates, and shortly after the
impregnable capital of Alsace opened its gates at a show of French
investment.

"For this important service Louis XIV. fancied that Chamillo would
require the letters patent constituting him a prince. Not at all.
Chamillo was tired of secular honors: he had seen the bishop of
Strasburg officiating in scarlet, and he insisted on being made
cardinal. The king could not make cardinals, and he doubted whether he
could induce the pope to receive a devil among the upper clergy. He
refused absolutely. Chamillo left him in dudgeon and went over to
Prussia. Apparently he has remained there. At any rate, the French
king's fortunes commenced at that epoch to decline, and the Peace of
Ryswick almost deprived him of Strasburg, which the little yellow man
wanted to get back for Germany."

We had quitted Strasburg by the gate of Austerlitz. While listening to
my friend I kept an eye open, and examined the present state of the
fortress, the incidents of the road to Kehl, and that fairy Ile des
Epis, a perfect little Eden in the Rhine, where the tall trees and
nodding flowers bury the tomb of Dessaix, with its inscription, "A
Dessaix, l'Armee du Rhin, 1800." This bright morning-ride enchanted me,
seasoned as it was with a goblin-story.

[Illustration: ILE DES EPIS.]

"Behind this tale, now, there must be a fact," I said. "There is some
bit of history concealed there. The common people never invent: they
distort."

"It is possible," he answered. "I tell you the story as it was told me
by one of my theodolite-bearers. You may find out the rest: it is in
your line."

Kehl has been bombarded or razed a dozen times by French armies crossing