at
the cost of no little pain, got rid of all that mass of hair which
had so transformed him. The stain was now nearly worn off the skin;
and Ralph was quite surprised, when he again looked at himself in
the glass.

"I was about beginning to forget," he said, with a laugh, "that I
was a boy, after all."

The first day of Percy's convalescence, he dozed a good deal; but
the next day he woke, much brighter and better.

"Look here, Percy," Ralph said, laying the ribbon before him;
"that's better than medicine for you. There is the ribbon of a
commander of the legion of honor. You can safely boast that you are
the youngest who ever wore it; and earned it well, too, old man.
Won't they be pleased, at home? And we are both gazetted as
captains."

Percy smiled with pleasure. His attack had been a very sharp one;
but so short an illness, however severe, is speedily got over. The
doctor had, that morning, said that all he wanted now was building
up; and that, in a very few days, he would be about. Indeed, Percy
wanted to get up that day; insisting that he was quite strong. When
he once stood up, however, he found he was much weaker than he had
imagined; but sat up in an armchair, all the evening. The next day
he remained up all day and, three days after, he felt strong enough
to go to the governor with Ralph, to ask for their promised places
in the next balloon.

It was now the twenty-third of November. A carriage was sent for
and, after some difficulty, procured; for carriages were already
becoming scarce, in Paris. They drove up to the entrance, and went
in; but were told by an orderly--who could scarcely conceal his
surprise at these lads, in the uniform of captains of the staff,
and with decorations scarcely ever seen, except upon the breasts of
superior officers--that the general was out. They turned and went
out but, as they reached the steps, a number of officers rode up.

"There is General Trochu himself, with Vinoy and Ducrot," Ralph
said.

The generals dismounted, and came up the steps. As they did so
their eyes fell upon the boys, who both saluted. They paused, in
surprise.

"What masquerade is this, young gentlemen?" General Trochu asked,
sternly. "Allow me to ask how you venture to dress up as captains,
on the staff; and still more how you dare to put on the ribbons of
commanders of the legion of honor?

"It is no laughing matter," he said, angrily, as Ralph could not
resist a smile. "It is a punishab