I got in with the French toughs over at Manitou, at Barbazon's Tavern, and I gave them gin--we made it a gin night.

It struck their fancy--gin, all gin! 'Course there's nothing in gin different from any other spirit; but it fixed their minds, and took away suspicion.
"I got drunk--oh, yes, of course, blind drunk, didn't I?
Kissed me, half a dozen of the Quebec boys did--said I was 'bully boy' and 'hell-fellow'; said I was 'bon enfant'; and I said likewise in my best patois.

They liked that.

I've got a pretty good stock of monkey-French, and I let it go.

They laughed till they cried at some of my mistakes, but they weren't no mistakes, not on your life.