stood some way off upon the sward. I was glad of an opportunity to

divert public attention from myself, and return some of the

compliments I had received. So I admired it cordially both for

form and colour, telling them, and very truly, that it was as

beautiful as gold. They were not surprised. The things were

plainly the boast of the countryside. And the children expatiated

on the costliness of these amphorae, which sell sometimes as high

as thirty francs apiece; told me how they were carried on donkeys,

one on either side of the saddle, a brave caparison in themselves;

and how they were to be seen all over the district, and at the

larger farms in great number and of great size.

PONT-SUR-SAMBRE

WE ARE PEDLARS

The Cigarette returned with good news. There were beds to be had

some ten minutes' walk from where we were, at a place called Pont.

We stowed the canoes in a granary, and asked among the children for

a guide. The circle at once widened round us, and our offers of

reward were received in dispiriting silence. We were plainly a

pair of Bluebeards to the children; they might speak to us in

public places, and where they had the advantage of numbers; but it

was another thing to venture off alone with two uncouth and

legendary characters, who had dropped from the clouds upon their

hamlet this quiet afternoon, sashed and be-knived, and with a

flavour of great voyages. The owner of the granary came to our

assistance, singled out one little fellow and threatened him with

corporalities; or I suspect we should have had to find the way for

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