297

CHAPTER XXXI.

A THUMB-FEINT AND WHAT CAHE OF IT.

were approaching ISTapoIeon, Arkansas. So I began to think
about my errand there. Time, noonday; and bright and sunny.
This was bad—not best, anyway; for mine was riot (preferably) a
noonday kind of errand. The more I thought, the more th-at fact
pushed itself upon me—now in one form, now in another. Finally,

NAPOLEON IN 1871.
it took the form of a distinct question : is it good common sense to
do the errand in daytime, when, by a little sacrifice of comfort and
inclination, you can have night for it, and no inquisitive eyes around I
This settled it. Plain question and plain answer make the shortest
road out of most perplexities.
I got my friends into my stateroom, and said I was sorry to create
annoyance and disappointment, but that upon reflection it really