And I've rheumatism even now when a damp spell comes." So down to the tavern they went, and there they talked the battles over, sundry tankards interpolating.

It was "Do you remember this ?" and, "Do you recall that ?" with diagrams drawn in beer on the oaken table.
"But there's one thing, my boy," said Carmichael.
"What's that ?" "The odds were on our side, or we'd be fighting yet." "That we would.

The poor devils were always hungry when we whipped them badly." "But you're from this side of the water ?" "Yes; went over when I was twenty-two." Grumbach sucked his pipe stolidly.
"What part of Germany ?" "Bavaria; it is so written in my passports." "Munich ?" Grumbach circled the room.

All the near tables were vacant.

The Black Eagle was generally a lonely place till late in the afternoon.