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that everyone within hearing was ready to burst with laughter at

Ralph's hit--which happened to be thoroughly well deserved.

The officer turned white; and would have burst out into a violent

answer, had not a couple of friends at his elbow begged him to

restrain himself. The boy evidently meant nothing; besides, he was

only a boy, and what could be done with him? Besides which, again,

one of them put in, though he was only a boy, he looked an awkward

customer. This latter argument weighed more with the lieutenant

than any other.

Ralph was not yet seventeen, and looked much younger than a French

lad of the same age would do; but in point of size he was

considerably taller than the officer of Mobiles, and his broad

shoulders gave promise of unusual strength. There was, too, a look

of fearlessness and decision about his face which marked him

emphatically as an "awkward customer." Seeing this, the lieutenant

burst into a constrained fit of laughter; and said that it was

"very good--really very good, for a boy."

Everyone else was so occupied in the endeavor to stifle their

laughter that the lieutenant again took up the part of questioner.

"I suppose, young gentleman, that you come from Saint Cyr or the

Polytechnic; although I should hardly imagine that you have

completed your studies, in either of them?"

"I have not the advantage of having been at either of the military

academies," Ralph said quietly. "Have you?"

Again there was a laugh and, by this time, most of those in the

room had gathered round.

"May I ask to which arm of the service you belong?" the officer

asked, with difficulty keeping his temper.

"You may ask, certainly; and I have no objection to answer," Ralph

said. "My brother and myself both belong to the general staff."

The officer looked surprised.

"Have you served already, sir, or has your service yet to

commence?"

"I have seen some little service already," Ralph said.

"May I ask what general has had the benefit of your assistance?"

the lieutenant said, with an affectation of politeness.

At this moment the Sous Prefect pushed forward.

"Silence, sir!" he said to the officer. "There has been too much of

this. These gentlemen have performed a great service to France, and

are my guests; and I look upon it as a personal attack upon

myself."

"Excuse me, sir," Ralph said, rising from his seat for the first

time. "I am grateful to you, for your interference in my behalf;

but I can make no claim, upon the present occasion, to have

rendered any service to France. I had nothing to do with the

dispatches, nothing to do with the balloon. I came out as a

passenger, upon my private desire and pleasure, at the risk of

course of being killed. Undoubtedly I nearly was killed; and I look

upon the entertainment that you have given us as a kind

congratulation upon our not having broken our necks.

"Kindly, then, permit me to answer this officer for myself. I think

I can hold my own."

The Sous Prefect shrugged his shoulders; to signify that, in that

case, he washed his hands of the whole business.

"Now, sir," Ralph said, "I will answer the question. The general

upon whose staff my brother and myself served was General

Cambriels."

The officer shrugged his shoulders.

"Since that time," Ralph said, more sternly than he had yet spoken,

"my brother and myself have had the offer of posts upon the staffs

of General Trochu, General Ducrot, and General Vinoy."

"Oh, come now," the lieutenant said, with a laugh of derision,

"that is a little too strong. Imagine a scramble upon the part of

Trochu, Ducrot, and Vinoy for the services of these very young

officers."

This time the speaker had the laugh with him, for no one could

believe that Ralph could be speaking the truth. Ralph grew a little

pale.

"Monsieur Teclier," he said, "do me the favor to introduce my

brother and myself to this lieutenant of Mobiles, in due form."

The matter had now become so serious that there was a dead hush in

the room, while Monsieur Teclier advanced. He had once or twice

already made a motion of coming forward, to take Ralph's part; but

a motion from the latter had arrested him. He was aware of the

furore which the gallant and successful expedition of the Barclays

had created, in Paris; and he had been greatly struck and pleased

by the calmness of the boys in a great--and to them altogether

new--peril. He now advanced slowly.

"May I ask your name, sir, and regiment?" he said to the officer.

"Lieutenant Desmaret, of the Mobiles of Vienne," the officer said,

frowning.

"Lieutenant Desmaret of the Mobiles of Vienne, I beg to introduce

you to--"

"No, sir," the officer said, passionately, "you introduce them to

me, not me to them. The inferior rank is introduced to the

superior."

"I know perfectly well what I am doing, sir, and require no lesson

from you," Monsieur Teclier said, quietly. "I repeat, I introduce

you--Lieutenant Desmaret, of the Mobiles of Vienne--to Captain

Ralph Barclay, and Captain Percy Barclay, staff officers, and

commanders of the legion of honor."

There was a dead silence of surprise throughout the room.

"Is it possible?" the Sous Prefect said, coming forward again,

"that these gentlemen are the Captains Barclay, of whom the Paris

papers--which we received three days since--were full, as having

passed through the German lines, and having swam the Seine at

night, under fire? They had previously been decorated for great

acts of bravery, in the Vosges; and were now made commanders of the

Legion.

"Is it possible that you are those officers, gentlemen?"

"It is so, monsieur," Ralph said. "We had the good fortune to

distinguish ourselves but, as we did not wish to make ourselves

conspicuous by new uniforms, and new ribbons, we have put aside our

uniforms until required for service; and asked Monsieur Teclier to

be silent upon the subject. Of course, we could not guess that,

upon our way, we should meet so rude and unmannerly a person as

Monsieur the Lieutenant of the Mobiles of Vienne."

The lieutenant stamped his feet furiously.

"You shall answer to me, sir," he said, "for this insult."

"Stop, sir," Ralph said, in a steady voice--which silenced those

who were about to interfere. "You have asked me questions, with

rare freedom. I have answered them. I am now going to give you my

opinion of you, and my advice to you, equally freely.

"If you mean, by what you have said, that you are going to

challenge me to a duel, I tell you at once that I shall not accept

it. I have, sir," and he raised his head proudly, "proved my

courage; and France has recognized it, in the rank and honor she

has given me. We English--for I am English--do not fight duels.

"But I will make an exception. When you, Monsieur Desmaret, come to

me decorated as I am; or having, in any signal way, proved your

courage and devotion to France, I will meet you. At present I see

that you--an officer in the French army, well in health--are

staying here in idleness, instead of being in the field. Go and

fight the enemies of France, first, Monsieur Desmaret; and after

that talk, if you like, about fighting her friends."

There was a loud exclamation of applause and satisfaction, at these

words, from those who had been looking on at this unpleasant scene;

and the Sous Prefect warmly shook Ralph by the hand.

"Well said, Captain Barclay; well said, indeed. I believe I may say

that everyone here agrees with you, entirely. There are too many

officers continually absent from the army upon 'private affairs;'

and those of Monsieur Desmaret have taken longer to arrange than

usual, for he has been staying here for five weeks now.

"However," he said, significantly, "he will hardly prolong his stay

in the island.

"Enough upon that subject," he said, as Monsieur Desmaret left the

room, pale and furious. "I am glad--I am proud, sir--to make the

acquaintance of yourself and your brother; and I can really, at

heart, feel grateful to that fellow, for having forced you to

declare who you are. Had he not done so, you would have left

without our knowing that we had you among us."

There was now quite an ovation to the boys. The ladies, especially,

would hardly conceive that it was possible that these quiet-looking

young fellows had performed feats of such daring. They now begged

to hear the details of the adventures but, at this moment, word was

brought that steam was up, and the vessel ready to start; and as

Monsieur Teclier was most anxious to get on, and as Percy was quite

done up, Ralph was glad to seize the excuse, and to make his

apologies for leaving at once. The Sous Prefect, all the breakfast

party, and a large proportion of the population of the little place

accompanied them thence to the landing place; and then, amidst

hearty cheering, the little steamer--carrying the voyagers, the

dispatches, and the remains of the balloon--started for the

mainland.

Chapter 18: A Day Of Victory.

After traveling all night, the Barclays arrived at Tours at ten

o'clock, on the morning of the day after that upon which they had

left Belle Isle. At the station they said adieu to Monsieur

Teclier; who went at once to Gambetta, with the dispatches; while

the Barclays turned away to Colonel Tempe's lodgings and, to their

great surprise as well as delight, found him in.

The colonel gave quite a shout of joy, when he saw them.

"Ah, my brave boys, my brave boys, I am glad to see you," and he

took them in his arms, and kissed them as heartily and as earnestly

as if he had been their father.

"I am glad to see you," he repeated, wiping his eyes with his

handkerchief. "I was sure you would do it. I never really

doubted--I told Gambetta it was as good as done--but I could not

help being nervous, horribly nervous; and when the news came, five

days ago, by the balloon which left three days after you got in, I

almost lost my head. I laughed, I cheered, I shook everyone by the

hand--ma foi, I don't know what I did, I was so pleased.

"Your Irishman was the funniest thing. He was not surprised, or

pleased, or even interested. I explained to him over and over

again, thinking he did not understand; but he only shook his head

and said, in his strange English:

"'Sure, colonel, I never doubted them for a moment. Aren't they

clever enough to decaive the ould gintleman, himself? It was as

sartin as peas is peas that they would slip in, somehow; and if

they did get into a scrape, that they were the boys for getting

themselves out of it. It's the coming out I am afraid of.'

"I looked surprised, naturally enough, and he went on:

"'And doesn't your honor know that they are talking of coming out

in a balloon? Only to think of it, colonel, flying through the

clouds, shut up in a big ball of silk! It's just flying in the face

of Providence. What's the use of scheming, or of courage? You can't

decaive a cloud, though it's as aisy as dancing to take in a

German. When you tell me, colonel, that they're safe out of the

balloon; then I'll shout, as loud as you like.'

"Yesterday, when the telegram from Teclier came--saying that he had

fallen in Belle Isle, had had a narrow escape of being driven into

the sea, but had avoided that by running the risk of breaking his

neck--and mentioned that you were with him; and had, like himself,

escaped with a few bruises, Tim went nearly out of his mind with

joy. He has been cleaning his sword and accouterments, this

morning.

"I am off tomorrow, and you are only just come in time to see the

fighting.

"But you are looking ill, Percy; far too ill for service, just at

present."

"Yes, he has been very ill," Ralph said. "He had a touch of brain

fever, the night we got into Paris; and was delirious for two days.

He has picked up quickly, but that balloon descent was not the

thing for an invalid. The doctor in Paris ordered a month, at

least, of absolute rest; and has given him a sick certificate."

"He needs rest, certainly," Colonel Tempe said, "but he cannot go

home, at present. The Prussians hold Dijon in considerable

strength. There are far too many people in the town who have heard

of your connection with the franc tireurs. Some spy or other would

be certain to peach."

"Yes," Ralph assented, "we have been talking it over, and quite

agree that Percy could not go back as--although he would willingly

run the risk, himself--it would bring such serious consequences

upon them at home, if he were found there, that he has determined

to go down to Nice for a while, and rejoin as soon as he gains

strength again."

"Yes," Colonel Tempe said, "but above all things, do not let him be

in a hurry.

"You have gone through an immense deal, Percy; and have done a

great deal more than your share for France, and have gained great

honor and credit. Be content with that. You might ruin your

constitution for life, by further exertions."

"But about yourself colonel, where are you going?"

"I am starting, tomorrow, to join General Chanzy's staff."

"I have not heard his name before," Ralph said.

"He commands the Sixteenth Corps. He has not had much opportunity

yet, but he is a good soldier. If you like, Ralph, I will go with

you at once, to Freysinet, and get you attached with me."

"Thank you very much, colonel. I should like it of all things."

"Come along, then; Freysinet is in his office."

Percy accompanied them, to obtain a signature to his leave of