.
He took my arm and invited me to the tent of the Crown Prince.

"MOLTY," said I, "what's your little game?"

"Penny ante," replied he.

"_Tres bien,_" added I.

"You are a French spy. Ha! ha!" said he, grasping my collar. "Ho! Ho!"

"_Das ish goot,_" added I.

"Then you're Dutch," sighed he, dropping me like a hot pair of tongs.

In the tent we found the King, the Crown Prince, Gen. STEINMETZ, Gen.
SHERIDAN, and Gen. FORSYTH.

"MOLTY," said I, "introduce me to the King."

"BILL," said he, "this is JENKINS."

BILL held out his foot and I took a suck at his great toe.

Then we went at the game. BILL is pretty good at it, but then he doesn't
stand any chance beside MOLTY. The Crown Prince lost at least fourteen
cents, and, just as he had a splendid opportunity to retrieve his
losses, in came an aide, who announced that the French had squatted.

"Where?" cried VON MOLTKE.

"In Sedan," replied the aide.

"I knew it," said MOLTY. "BILL, I told you they had no horses for a
regular carriage."

Then we went out. The King invited me to sit in his carriage with MOLTY
and SHERIDAN. We reached the scene of war.

The moon shone; the mountains were mountainous; the trees were treey;
and the soft September breeze was breezy. BISMARCK came up and asked the
King to let him cut behind.

"BIS," said I, "take my seat; I'll take a trip to the French camp."

So I tripped over to the French camp and found things somewhat mixed.
The moon shone. Steadily the Prussian troops advanced; and, with a
heroism worthy of a better cause, the French retreated. The Emperor
wanted to die in the rear of his men.

"NAP," said I, "you'd better get up and get. The Prussians are coming."

"JENKINS," said he, "kiss me for my mother, I'm betrayed."

"Why didn't you have more cheesepots?" said I.

"I'll surrender," said he, "get out a white flag."

So I took one of EUGENIE'S old pocket-handkerchiefs which I found in the
tent, stuck it on the end of the sabre of the nephew of his uncle, put
NAP in the carriage, jumped in myself and drove to the Prussian camp.
The moon shone; all nature smiled; the rivers were rivery; the Sedans
were chairy.

BILL received us very coolly at first, but I gave BIS the wink, and he
suggested to his Majesty that he'd better take the Emperor prisoner.

"NAP," said BILL, "is the game up?"

"BILL," said NAP, "you've scored the game. I leave my old clothes to the
Regent. I hope she'll like the breeches."