The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1874-10-08
THE TELEGRAPHISTS, REVENGE.
(FRoM THE GERMANY,

(FRoM THE GERMAN.
There were eight of us belonging to
the telegraph department of The German
army, and we had had erother long
and hard days journey. At little be.
fore midnight we arrived, with our two
wagons, at pretty little town near LIE
Mans.
AS we reached the outskirts of the
place, the cour' er we had sent ahead
met us with tle billets for our quarters.
AS he banded them to us his face as
sumed az expression that L knew only
too vel, how to interpret.
~ Gr quarters are none of the best,
eh ? L asked.
"There have been some Bavariaps
here for whole week." was his laconic
reply, which said quite enough. 1t was
only when they found a very great
abundance and their stay was very short
that our blue-coated allies left anything
behind them.
Well, cur billets, in our respective
Judgments, promised very little. L,
for example, was sent to the house of a
inen-weaver. Now, at the mere men
tion of the word linen-weaver, a teel-
ing OF hunger and misery comes over
me, probably on account of my having,
III my boyhood, SO often sung the song
of "The Weaver of Silesia.
The others, being no better pleased
with their billets than was with mine,
readily acceded to my proposition to
go to a hotel and pass the night at our
own expense.
The mail had arrived only day or
two previously, and consequently we
all hp Il mr. NOT f,ol1ah 'tin fr11a hr,t
enoVgh to pay our reckoning for q
nipht at least.
The house to which we were directed
was called "The Shark" If the name
was somewhat ominous, we consoled
ourselves with the thought, or rather the
recollection, that, in the olden time, on a
certain occasion, q very distinguished
person found himself very comfortable
in fsh's belly.
The landlord, when our troop enter
ed his house, made an awfully wry
face; when, however, he learned that
we had not been quartered upon him,
" but came as paying guests, his physi-
..oghomy assumed an entirely different
!. Repression. We Germans, despite the
. hatred of the French for us, had good
reputation among the landlords and I
am convinced that, if countrymen of
the proprietor of The Shark had pre-.
sented themselves, he would not have
been so well pleased as he was with. us.
But his suave manner did not ,olease
us. There was something too fox-like
in his physsiognomy. While the tongue
of the little man was giving utterances
to polite phrases, his littls, sharp, dark
eyes seemed to say, IF l only had the
gold in my pocket, you might go to the
deuce, for all care p
Such-like landlords were not new to
us, and consequently the contradictory
expression OF lis words and his mien
gave us no p,heasiuess. He could in
duige IN ar s grimaces he pleased, pro-
Vlded MS larder was we'll filed and his
wine WIS good.
Inc man knew his business, that no
one could deny. He ran over the list
IF his culinary delicacies with wonder
full volubility, and praised his wines
with an eloquence that even Geneva
Calvinist would have found it difficult
to resist. AS for the former, they
tasted very like the remnants of a d lin.
ner warmed over and, as for the latter,
it had certainly been literally watered.
But our stomachs had not been cloyed
with luXuries of late, and, especially
for The last three or four days, our fare
hGd been so very plain, that we found
the supper The Shark landlord set be-
fore us very palatable. Although we
had had o hard day, we were, neverthe-
less, in a convivial mood, and, after our
host had persuaded us to take one bot
tie of champagne, he did not find it
difficult to persuade us to take second,
a third, and fourth. So we sat drink
ing and merry-maklng until three
o'clock in the morning, when we sud-
denly broke up and hastened to our
beds.
At six o'clock We were all assembled
again around the table, busy with our
coffee, when the Shark appeared, and,
with one Of his friendliest grimaces,
handed me our reckoning.
Good Heavens thought should
sink to the earth when l glanced at the
paper Such imposition 1 had never
before witnessed.
"TBo hundred and thirty-three
francs p [ cried; " chat is impossible
it cannot be p
"Si, 81, monsieur,i it is quite correct, u
answered the Shark, blandly. "Mon
Dieu Nessieurs les Prussiens have
made every thing SO dear with us il
France-what can we do ?"
"The rascal !" thought, and told
my comrades what the fellow demand
ed of Us. They, very naturally, were
not less incensed than was but what
could we do? There was no time tc
enter into discussion, for our wagons
were already waiting at the door; sc
We emptied our purses, and, with
'tlfaIh End Noth," made up the sun
the villain demanded, which be pocket
ed with a nonchalance that clearly
showed it was not the first time he hao
preyed upon the unwary.
We went our way, all feeling very
savage, particularly, for it was my
fault, if anybody's, that we had talleI
into the jaws of the monster.
L had no expectation of ever seeing
the little town or The Shark landlord
again; but Providence willed that il
should be otherwise, and kindly gave
me an opportunity to be fully avenged
Nine days later we were ordered to
repair short connecting-line near LIE
Mans. Again we took the road To thf