Belle Rose: A Romance of the Cloak and Sword — page 54: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

44 THE INTERIOR OF A BARRACK. ‘‘Bah!’’ said Belle-Rose, ‘‘I have seen him smile.’’ ‘*He has smiled?”’ ‘*Like every one else! Does this never happen to him, then?”’ ‘Yes, sometimes, but not often. I, who am an old mem- ber of the company, know that he has a better heart than countenance, but he has for recruits a devil of an air which frightens the most headstrong. If he wishes you well, you will soon arrive at the epaulettes.”’ ‘‘ Advancement then is rapid among you?”’ ‘That depends. Where the sieges kill a great many cffi- cers, it is necessary to replace them; then choice is made among the younger artillerymen or among the most skill- ful and valiant soldiers. ’ ‘So that, to win epaulettes, it is necessary for the enemy to scatter bullets among us.”’ ‘*Which they do not fail to do.”’ ‘Those kind Spaniards!”’ ‘Oh! our commander owes his grade to them. Therefore he has sworn to burn a taper in their honor in the very middle of Namur. Monsieur Delorme, who is at the head of the battalion, entered as a sapper like yourself. He has seen ten captains and three commanders pass over the river—three or four bullets and half a dozen grenades did the work.”’ ‘*Faith, the sapper’s trade is an excellent one.”’ ‘*Very fine indeed. Only for one officer who loses a leg thirty soldiers lose their heads.’’ ad? Bi ace ‘It is a calculation which I have amused myself with figuring out during my leisure hours. You can see it demonstrated at our first encounter. ’’ Belle-Rose said nothing and scratched his ear; at the end of the street he turned to the corporal. ‘Monsieur Déroute,’’ said he, ‘‘do you permit me to address you a question?”’ ‘Two if you wish.’’ ‘*You have told me, I believe, that in the artillery one advances or one dies.”’ ‘“Yes, comrade; the grape-shot serves as an aid to pro- motion. ’’ ‘‘How long have you been in the service?’’ **Eighteen years. ’’ ‘‘The deuce you say!’ ‘That is an explanation which proves to me that your mind has just delivered itself to an arithmetical operation. (E(0) =) ri iboo S (