Only fifty centimes each, and the certainty of winning!" _Monsieur le capitaine_ was a great, rawboned corporal, with a pretty little maid-servant on his arm.

The flattery was not very delicate; but it succeeded.

He threw down a franc.

The wheel flew round, the papers were drawn, and the corporal won a needle-case, and the maid-servant a cigar-holder.

In the midst of the laugh to which this distribution gave rise, I walked away in the direction of the refreshment stalls.