e four times to my three. As for the sabre, I could knock
him to pieces with it; and I could leap farther and carry more than
he could. This, however, is mere egotism. This Frenchman, with whom I
became pretty intimate--for we were the two cocks, as it were, of the
depot, and neither had any feeling of low jealousy--was called, for want
of a better name, Le Blondin, on account of his complexion. He was not a
deserter, but had come in from the Lower Rhine and the bishoprics, as I
fancy; fortune having proved unfavourable to him at play probably, and
other means of existence being denied him. I suspect that the Bastile
was waiting for him in his own country, had he taken a fancy to return
thither.

He was passionately fond of play and liquor, and thus we had a
considerable sympathy together: when excited by one or the other, he
became frightful. I, for my part, can bear, without wincing, both ill
luck and wine; hence my advantage over him was considerable in our
bouts, and I won enough money from him to make my position tenable. He
had a wife outside (who, I take it, was the cause of his misfortunes
and separation from his family), and she used to be admitted to see him
twice or thrice a week, and never came empty-handed---a little brown
bright-eyed creature, whose ogles had made the greatest impression upon
all the world.

This man was drafted into a regiment that was quartered at Neiss in
Silesia, which is only at a short distance from the Austrian frontier;
he maintained always the same character for daring and skill, and was,
in the secret republic of the regiment--which always exists as well
as the regular military hierarchy--the acknowledged leader. He was
an admirable soldier, as I have said; but haughty, dissolute, and a
drunkard. A man of this mark, unless he takes care to coax and flatter
his officers (which I always did), is sure to fall out with them. Le
Blondin's captain was his sworn enemy, and his punishments were frequent
and severe.

His wife and the women of the regiment (this was after the peace) used
to carry on a little commerce of smuggling across the Austrian frontier,
where their dealings were winked at by both parties; and in obedience
to the instructions of her husband, this woman, from every one of her
excursions, would bring in a little powder and ball: commodities which
are not to be procured by the Prussian soldier, and which were stowed
away in secret till wanted. They WERE to be wanted,