slung them round their necks, and began to beat them, crying,--

"Now for the tour of the house!"

"Sure my uncle must be dead!" thought I, leaning over him anxiously. But
no, his breath came and went, though inaudibly, and had he been allowed
to finish his sleep in peace it might have been for his healing.

Instead of this, I heard the dragoons come stamping upstairs, producing
a muffled roll on their drums that sounded like muttering thunder. They
went into one room after another, and speedily reached that of my uncle,
on catching sight of whom they triumphantly exclaimed, "Hah! ha! v'la
notre ami! Here is he whom we seek, and for whom we prepare the
reveille." And ranging themselves round his bed in a moment of time, in
spite of a warning gesture from me, it being impossible for my voice to
be heard, they simultaneously beat their drums with a clangor that might
have waked the dead. No wonder, therefore, that my poor uncle started
from his sleep bewildered, terrified, and looking as if he believed
himself in some horrid dream. In vain he moved his lips, in vain he
raised his clasped hands to one and another, as if in supplication; the
more distress he showed the more noise they made, till it seemed to me
as if my eardrums would split. In the midst of it all up came my aunt,
whose fortitude and presence of mind at that moment I can never
sufficiently admire; and with forced smiles and courteous gestures made
them to understand, in dumb show, that the first course of their meal
was served. Instantly the drums ceased; one of them seized her by the
shoulders, and hurried her down stairs before him, the others clattering
after him. I turned, and saw my uncle raise his eyes and hands to
heaven, and fall back on his pillow.

There was now a lull, while the viands were being consumed; but soon a
new uproar arose--the supply was inadequate for the demand: every morsel
of food in the house was consumed at one sitting, and yet there was not
nearly enough. The dragoons were furious: they gathered about my aunt,
pulling her hair, threatening her with their fists, threatening to boil
her in her own copper, and set fire to the house, with her sick husband
in it, if she did not procure an ample supply. With matchless patience
she looked one after another in the face, said, "Attendez, attendez,
messieurs, s'il vous plait;" and then, calling me down, bid me go forth
and beg of my neighbors as much food as I could.

When wondering