," Ralph's
servant said to him. "We've never had that luck before. He has always
sent his generals against us, but, by jabbers, he will find that he
has not got Roosians and Proosians this time."

"It will be hot work, Denis; for we shall have the best troops of
France against us, and Napoleon himself in command."

"It's little we care for the French, your honor. Didn't we meet them
in Spain and bate them? Sure, they are are hardly worth counting."

"You will find them fight very much better now they have their emperor
with them. You know, Wellington had all his work to beat them."

"Yes, but he did bate them, your honor."

"That's true enough, Denis; but his troops now are old soldiers, most
of whom have been fighting for years, while a great part of our force
will be no better than militia."

"They won't fight any the worse for that, your honor," Denis said
confidently. "We will bate them whenever we meet them. You see if we
don't."

"We will try anyhow, Denis; and if all the regiments were as good as
our own I should feel very sure about it. I wish, though, we were
going to fight by ourselves; we know what we can do, but we do not
know how the Belgians and Dutch and Germans who will be with us can be
depended upon."

"If I were the duke I wouldn't dipend on them at all, at all, your
honor. I would just put them all in the rare, and lave our fellows to
do the work. They are miserable, half-starved cratures all them
foreigners, they tells me; and if a man is not fed, sure you can't
expect him to fight. I couldn't do it myself. And I hope the duke
ain't going to put us on short rations, because it would be murther
entirely on the boys to make them fight with impty stomachs."

"I fancy we shall be all right as to that, Denis. I expect that we
shall wait quiet till the French attack us, and waiting quiet means
getting plenty of food."

"And dacent food, I hope, your honor; not the sort of thing they say
them foreigners lives on. Denis Mulligan could live on frogs and
snails as well as another, no doubt; but it would go sorely against
me, your honor."

"I don't think there's much chance of your having to live on that
Denis. You will get rations there just the same as you did in Spain."

"What! beef and mutton, your honor? I suppose they will bring them
across from England?"

"They may bring some across, Denis; but I suppose they will be able to
buy plenty for the supply of the army out there."

"What! ha