182 THE LION KILLER. 



He replied, " You will groom my two horses and your 

 own, you wall keep my arms polished, and clean my 

 boots." 



I had a great mind to tell the gentleman that he would be 

 doing me a great pleasure by rendering the same services to 

 me, but reflection controlled my tongue, and made me remem- 

 ber that an arrest would be a bad commenjement of a cam- 

 paign, so I only replied, 



" Sir, your horses will be badly groomed, your arms poorly 

 polished, and your boots awkwardly blacked." 



The officer surveyed me from head to toe, I saluted him 

 politely, and we mutually turned our backs on each other. 



About an hour afterwards, I was ordered into the presence 

 of the treasurer. 



"Do you know how to write ?" he said. 



" Yes, captain." I answered. 



" Very well, I am glad to hear it ; the time of the inspec- 

 tion is coming round, I have a great deal to do, and you 

 can do duty in my office." 



I was then seated, without further words, at a table with 

 implements of writing before me, and a large mass of papers, 

 and one of the secretaries gave me a paper to copy. When I 

 had completed the work, which was a short one, I handed it 

 to the secretary, who gave it a long examination and then 

 passed it to the treasurer, who cried out on seeing it, 



" Sir, what language do you write in ?" 



a Captain, I have copied." 



" How copied — it is illegible, and one cannot recognize a 

 word among all these fly tracks." 



