The Opelousas courier., 1893-07-15

"Wiu you have the goodness to en-
ter?"
We had the goodness to enter.
We passed through the court to q
st%one-foored sort of Office. AS we en-
tered, the door was shut behind us, and
the thtd of a musket butt limited that
one of the two outside had been told
off to mount guard over us.
"Your papers," The little man held
out his hand.
Up till now Bopper had been de-
lighted. It was his first arrest. I had
gone through it twice before, and Idare
say I had crowed just little more than,
I ought to over his inexperience. He
thought we wel@ getting equal ut last,
but he did not like to. be bullied by q
man in an apron. Besides, the gen,
darmes were outside now.
"Permit me to ask by what right you
stop travellers on the high road?" THUG
Bopper, with much dignity.
man sternly.
"May I ask whom I have the honor
of addressing?" Bopper was, severely
suave
"But, the Brigadier Dupont, sir.
The genuine establishment of the good
brigadier was enough to make us laugh.
Bopper only added sarcastically.
"You haven't much the air of it,"
stung by the sneer, the officer II
ished through an inner door, to rear-
pear a moment after in full uniform.
Taking his seat at the desk, he began.
"Without papers. ] presumed"
Bopper was busy looking for a scat.
He did not relish standing while the
examiner sat. We had to pocket the.
affront, however, through lack of even
g form. Bopper angrily retorted that
stpapers' were no longer required, that
we hadn't papers, and that he would
like to know what this detention
meant. Dupont merely took up a
huge yellow paper form and solemnly
asked:
'Your surnames and Christian
names?"
We gave these, and a great many
| more items as he asked them, and
| gravely wrote them down. Suddenly
he turned upon us with a "Now I've
| got you" air and asked:
"Your resources, if you please?"
At this veritable ''stand and de-
liver" Bopper, with some pride, pro-
duced his purse, containing some 700
francs. :
'tYou didn't look like it, you know"
murmured the thunderstruck briga-
der.
When / fourished over 1000 francs
before him, he could only add: !
"Nor you, either"
Pleased at the favorable impression
our had made upon the poor
brigadier, who had probably never
seen 80 much money at one time in his
life before, Bopper deigned to produce
our railway return tickets from Paris
to London. Dupont admitted this as
evidence. But his next question
startled us.
"Can you speak SPANISH"
This finished our examination. He
would give no explanation. On the
sounding of a little bell a ~gendarme
entered and saluted. He was not oun
keeper, whom we saw grimly keeping
guard at the door. The brigadieD
handed his big report to the man, who
withdrew.
Bopper returned to the charge that
the police had no right to stop us on
the highway. The brigadier admitted
that papers were no longer necessary,
but
81 am instructed to arrest you on a
specific charge"
What charged" we demanded to-
gether.
He only smiled sly1y, and told us
that an old hand like him was not so
easily caught as all that. The only hint
he would give us was that it would be
twenty years at the hulks if proved
against us. We felt secretly pleased
at the obvious enormity of our ofense.
English spies, of course" sneered
Bopper.
"English pickpockets nor proba-
saiily scored there; "but, no, gentle
men, it is neither. I may be able to
tell you when I get q reply to my tele-
gram"
srDo you mean to say you tefe'
graphed all that sheet about usF"
asked Bopper, with a pride he could
hardly conceal.
But yes, perfectly; it's the rule"
"Where did you telegraph too"
"Ahl gentlemen make questions.
Pardon me"
Our conceit in our " Importance
was seriously damaged by the interim
reply:
"Commandant at breakfast. Keep
prisoners till further notice"
Dupont was annoyed. Bopper waa
furious. I am q philosopher. The
Den rang again. We were conducted
TO q sort of q cell, where we had a form
to sit on. We were locked in. We
both felt secretly aggrieved at not
being put into irons. Even the cell
was q fraud. The window Yves very
high up, it is true; but there was only
n iron bar across it-a vertical one.
We had no pallet of straw, or any of
Uhe regulation cell furniture. Instead,
there was quite B collection OF riding
boots and spurs and belts hanging
round he wells. On q shelf there were