you that although I may appear small I am quite
remarkably strong in the arms. And when it comes
to fighting, ah $a! when it comes to that they will
find me a devil!5 He wheezed and hastily cleared
his throat; CI am more than a devil when roused/ he
finished.
But this was too much altogether for the poilus and
they suddenly guffawed.
Loup swung round on them glaring: *I -have said
that I am a devil, Messieurs, and I cannot do better,
it seems, than repeat it.'
'And your parents, have you obtained their permis-
sion to enlist?' enquired the sous-officier politely, as
he stroked his moustache to conceal a smile and turned
a reproving back on the poilus.
Le tout petit Loup replied haughtily: 'Monsieur,
my parents were bred here in Provence. In Provence
we love our country, I trust. No need to derange
yourself for my parents.'
The sous-officier remained doubtful, however:
'There is also the matter of health to consider. Come
this way, if you please.3 And he opened a door.
'Pardon, Monsieur le Docteur, a new recruit.'
'Enter, my friend;' said Monsieur le Docteur.
Ai! las, ai! las, le pauvre tout petit Loup; he was
in, he was out, in less than ten minutes. And there
were those poilus still full of their grins and their
nudgings — a stupid couple of fellows. Not unkind
at bottom but somewhat obtuse, that was all, not
unkind but somewhat obtuse, so that the look they
saw on Loup's face as he made his abrupt reappear-
ance, meant nothing.
But the sous-officier was that very rare thing, a
person possessed of imagination, and he gravely
saluted le tout petit Loup: 'Monsieur, in the name of
France we thank you.'
And hearing those words le tout petit Loup could
436