The Portland daily press., 1892-01-29
THE ROBBER.

"When ! tell you, you WILL NOT De-
heve me-"
"Never mind; tell us, all the same"
"Willingly. but feel the necessity of
first declaring that my story is true in
every particular, improbable as it seems.
Artists alone will not be surprised, par
ticularly those who lived in that period
when the spirit Of fun and frolic per-
vaded artist life, even in the most seri-
GUS circumstances.
This conversation took place in the
sal'e-a-tnanger of the Hotel de Barbison
among q lot Of students.
The old artist who had just spoken
placed himself astride his chair and con-
tinued:
Well, we had dined that evening with
Sorieul Poor fellow, he is now dead!
There were only three Of us-Sorieul,
LIE Poittevin and myself. Sorieul was
the widest of us all, and to SLY we had
dined at his house signifies-we were all
drunk. LIE Poittevin alone retained his
serses-a little cloudy, it is true-stlll he
loew what he was doing. All! we were
young in those days.
Lying on the carpet in a little room ad-
joining the atelier, we discussed in the
most extravagant manner all kinds OF
improbable things.
Sorieul, fiat on his back, his feet
perched on the back of chair, talked
about battles and the uniforms worn dur
ing the empire. Suddenly getting up,
he went to large wardrobe and took
,l,%< Of hI1cc
dressed himself in it, then tried to per-
suade LIE Poittevin to costume himself
as a grenadier. When he resisted wa
seized him, undressed him, and forced
him into an immense uniform which
completely swallowed him up.
disguised myself as cuirassier, and
Sorieul made us execute some very COM
plicated meneuvers.
Then he exclaimed, Gas we are now
soldiers, we must drink like soldiers"
A punch was lighted, swallowed;
again and again the flames rose up from
the bowl of rum. Wesang old songs
which the troopers of the Grand Army
sang in ancient times.
Suddenly LIE Poittevin, who in spite
of all this was still master of himself,
made us sign to be silent; after listen
ing moment, he said, in low voice,
II am sure hear some one walking IN
the atelier"
Sorieul got up as well as he could, and
cried out, "A robber! what luck!' and
began to troll the .'Marseillaise, ITO
arms To arms, We brave!'
We dashed to panoply of arms and
equipped ourselves according to our uni
forms. | had kind of musket, with
saber; LIE Poittevin gigantic gun with
a bayonet; Sorieul, not finding what he
wanted, seized horse pistol, which he
stuck in his belt, and boarding ak,
which he wildly brandished. Then
cautiously opening the door of the ate
lier, the army entered the suspected ter
litory.
When we were in the midst of this
vast room, encountered with easels, pic
lures and strange, unexpected objects
of furniture, Sorieul called a halt and
said: 81 constitute myself general. Let
us hold council of war. You cuiras-
siers, go and cut off the retreat of the
enemy, that is. Lock tho door,. You
grenadiers will be my escort"
I executed the commanded movement,
then joined the troop that formed the
accommodating party.
was searching behind great screen,
lighted candle in my hand, when a
furious noise burst forth. | darted out
to find LIE Poittevin had stuck his bayo-
net into the breast of a lay figure, and
Sorieul was trying to cut off the head
with his ak.
The mistake being recognized the gen
eral commanded, ''Be more PRUDENT
and again we commenced operations.
For twenty minutes at least we ram
sacked every corner and crevice of the
atelier without success. At last LIE Poit-
tevin thought of opening large closet.
It was dark and deep. l thrust in my
arm, holding the light, but quickly re-
coiled; a mana living, breathing man
was there looking at me!
l Immediately shut the door and Sc
cured it by two turns of the key; then
we held a new council of war.
Opinions were very much divided. So
rieul wanted to smoke out the robber, LIE
Poittevin to take him by famine; pro-
posed to blow him up with powder.
The advice of LIE Poittevin prevailed.
While he mounted guard with his
gigantic gun we ran off for the remain
der of the punch and our pipes; when
we installed ourselves before the locked
door and drank to the health of the pris-
oner
At the end of half an hour Sorieul said:
"All the same, would like to see him
nearer! Suppose we take him by force"
l cried ''Bravo" Each one dashed to
his arms, the closet door was opened,
Sorieul cooking his pistol-which was
not loaded-was the first to rush in, we
followed, bowling and yelling. It was
an awful scrinnmage in the dark, and
after five minutes of frightful struggling
we brought out an old, dirty, ragged
looking beggar with long white hair.
We bound him hand and foot and pro-
ceeded to question him. He would not
answer a word.
Then Sorieul, full of dignifed drunken
ness, said, I'VE must try this man, and
pass sentence upon him" | was so