268 A MONTH IN THE FORESTS OP FRANCE. 



round, when suddenly I heard an angry and abusive 

 voice close to me rattlinej out r-r-r's with the words 

 much Frenchified of " God-damn John Bool/' and 

 at the same moment found myself rudely seized 

 by the back of my collar ; and, being but half in the 

 carriage, and not in much of a position for resistance, 

 dragged by my collar out of the carriage, and brought 

 up, all standing, face to face with a hideous square- 

 built ruffian, who then continued his violent assault 

 by attempting to shake as well as drag me to the open 

 door of his fly. 



Not in the least comprehending the exact meaning 

 of this violence, all I cared about was the fact of being 

 thus touched by dirty hands ; so, catching him by the 

 collar, I took care the collaring as to severity all went 

 one way ; and as I was doing so the young French 

 gentleman from out my fly kept saying, " Don't, sir, 

 don't," while I thought that *' don't " ought to have 

 been addressed to the first assailant. Having shaken 

 the fool up a bit, I flung him away from me, with a 

 caution, in my queer French, to mind what he was 

 shaking up in that great-coat, and was half in my 

 carriage again, when I was seized more rudely than 

 before, and dragged back, the dirty fists of the filthy 

 villain tearing open the breast of my coat, and en- 

 dangering anything that I might have had round my 



