were, in fact, except Loubet, the concocter of stews and hashes, and he had an opinion, for he had been for soup, first, last, and always; but they all, carried away by his eloquence, shouted none the less lustily against the Emperor, their officers, the whole d——­d shop, which they would leave the first chance they got, see if they wouldn’t!  And Chouteau, while fanning the flame of their discontent, kept an eye on Maurice, the fine gentleman, who appeared interested and whom he was proud to have for a companion; so that, by way of inflaming his passions also, it occurred to him to make an attack on Jean, who had thus far been tranquilly watching the proceedings out of his half-closed eyes, unmoved among the general uproar.  If there was any remnant of resentment in the bosom of the volunteer since the time when the corporal had inflicted such a bitter humiliation on him by forcing him to resume his abandoned musket, now was a fine chance to set the two men by the ears.

“I know some folks who talk of shooting us,” Chouteau continued, with an ugly look at Jean; “dirty, miserable skunks, who treat us worse than beasts, and, when a man’s back is broken with the weight of his knapsack and Brownbess, aie! aie! object to his planting them in the fields to see if a new crop will grow from them.  What do you suppose they would say, comrades, hein! now that we are masters, if we should pitch them all out upon the track, and teach them better manners?  That’s the way to do, hein!  We’ll show ’em that we won’t be bothered any longer with their mangy wars.  Down with Badinguet’s bed-bugs!  Death to the curs who want to make us fight!”

Jean’s face was aflame with the crimson tide that never failed to rush to his cheeks in his infrequent fits of anger.  He rose, wedged in though as he was between his neighbors as firmly as in a vise, and his blazing eyes and doubled fists had such a look of business about them that the other quailed.

“Tonnerre de Dieu! will you be silent, pig!  For hours I have sat here without saying anything, because we have no longer any leaders, and I could not even send you to the guard-house.  Yes, there’s no doubt of it, it would be a good thing to shoot such men as you and rid the regiment of the vermin.  But see here, as there’s no longer any discipline, I will attend to your case myself.  There’s no corporal here now, but a hard-fisted fellow who is tired of listening to your jaw, and he’ll see if he can’t make you keep your potato-trap shut.  Ah! you d——­d coward!  You won’t fight yourself and you want to keep others from fighting!  Repeat your words once and I’ll knock your head off!”

By this time the whole car, won over by Jean’s manly attitude, had deserted Chouteau, who cowered back in his seat as if not anxious to face his opponent’s big fists.