Fig. 294. La situation politique en France. (Novembre 1873.)
Caricature de Félix Régamey, publiée dans le Harper's Weekly de New-York.
"There is only one way to do it," said Mark. "If you want the flower beds, you must fight Louis for them, and I believe you will lick him all to smash; but you must fight him alone."
"How do you mean?" replied William.
"I mean, you must take care that the other monitors don't interfere in the quarrel. If they do, they will be sure to go against you. Remember what a grudge Joseph owes you for the licking you gave him not along ago; and Aleck, though to be sure Louis took little Constantine's part against him in that great bullying row, is evidently beginning to grow jealous of your influence in the school. You see, old fellow, you have grown so much lately, and filled out so wonderfully that you are getting really quite formidable. Why, I recollect the time when you were quite a little chap!"
Thereupon the astute Mark designs a plan by which William may provoke the encounter while making Louis seem the aggressor. And so on, under the guise of fistfight between two schoolboys, Nast tells of all the events of the struggle of 1871; the outbreak of hostilities, the Baptism of Fire, Sedan, the German march on Paris, the Siege, and the different attitudes assumed by the other monitors.