"All right," he said; "you will have two days' _Salle de Police_ for having called me a fool. By the way," he added, "Lemaire is sick, and you will have to take the guard for him." I remonstrated, explaining that I had taken the guard the previous week, and that it could not therefore be my turn to take the guard, even to replace a sick man. "You refuse to obey the orders of the Corporals?" "Of course I don't refuse," I said, knowing well that in his state of mind he might, upon the least provocation, report me as having refused to obey orders, and this would have meant a court-martial, and most likely a sentence of several years' hard labour. "Well, get ready then," said the Corporal. "I want to go and talk to the Sergeant-major first," I replied. "No you don't," he said, standing in front of me. Of course I could not lay hands on him, for, as I have already explained, the slightest assault on any man holding a rank superior to one's own was invariably punished with _death_. I therefore proceeded to get my things ready, well knowing, however, that it was physically impossible for me to get my kit into proper order for parade upon so short a notice. Soon after, the Corporal having reeled away, I went to the Sergeant-major's room, but there I found only his orderly, who told me to my utter dismay that the Sergeant-major had gone the previous evening on twenty-four hours' leave. I therefore walked down to the stables in order to find the Sergeant of the Week. On my way, however, I fell foul of the Corporal, who asked me where I was going. "I am going to speak to the Sergeant of the Week," I said. "No you don't," he replied; "you just walk back with me." "I am going to the Sergeant of the Week," I repeated. "You refuse to obey orders then?" asked the Corporal. "No, but I am going to the Sergeant of the Week." "By God," he said, "if you don't follow me to the room at once I will go straight to the Captain of the Week and report you for having refused to obey orders." Of course I had no alternative but to follow the Corporal, and I had to dress anyhow in order to be ready in time for the parade of the guard. The leather tops of my trousers were not properly polished, my sword and carbine were not spick and span as they ought to have been for parade, and the brass work of my helmet was a trifle tarnished, for it had not been cleaned since the previous afternoon. As it was, I had to run to join the other troopers on parade, and when I got there the command "Attention" had already been given. Captain des Tourelles was Captain of the Week, and the moment he caught sight of me he ordered me to come to him. "You are late," he said. "Captain," I replied, "the reason of it is----"