.

A MASTER STROKE.
I have a way with me which commonly commands respect; and when the landlord's first terror was over and he would serve me, I managed to get my supper--the first good meal I had had in two days--pretty comfortably in spite of the soldiers' presence.

The crowd, too, which filled the room, soon began to melt.

The men strayed off in groups to water their horses, or went to hunt up their quarters, until only two or three were left.

Dusk had fallen outside; the noise in the street grew less.