well, thinks I …”
“And that other one with him, the Austrian, looked as if he were smeared with chalk—as white as flour! I suppose they polish him up as they do the guns.”
“I say, Fédeshon! … Did he say when the battles are to begin? You were near him. Everybody said that Bonaparte himself was at Braunau.”
“Bonaparte himself! … Just listen to the fool, what he doesn’t know! The Prussians are up in arms now. The Austrians, you see, are putting them down. When they’ve been put down, the war with Bonaparte will begin. And he says Bonaparte is in Braunau! Shows you’re a fool. You’d better listen more carefully!”
“What devils these quartermasters are! See, the fifth company is turning into the village already … they will have their buckwheat cooked before