"'Then you refuse to take me into custody, Mr. Commissary?' said I.
"'Yes, positively,' said he; 'we take prisoners, but we do not accept them when offered.'
"'Then you will not allow me to join my captain in his adversity?'
"'Your captain is as great a fool as yourself,' said he; 'he need not have gone to prison unless he liked.'
"'That was a matter of taste on his part, Mr. Commissary, but is a matter of duty on mine,'"
"This bar is nearly through," whispered the missionary.
"There is no time to be lost," said the captain; "the warder will be round in a quarter of an hour."
"Well," continued Willis, "the commissary began to get angry, he rose up, and was about to leave the room, when I placed myself resolutely before him.
"'Sir,' said I, 'one word more—you know the French laws; be good enough to tell me what crime will most surely and most promptly send me to prison.'
"'Oh, there are plenty of them,' said he, laughing.