The man stopped, steadied himself, and answered with ponderous gravity.
'Perfectly—hic—hic—sober!'
'I wish I were!' replied Zeno. 'The truth is, I am exceedingly drunk, though I do not show it. Wine only affects my brains, never my legs or my tongue. It is a very strange thing!'
'Very—cu—hic—rious!' responded the soldier, trying to see his interlocutor clearly, by screwing up his eyes.
'Extraordinarily cuhicrious, as you justly observe,' Zeno answered gravely. 'But the fact is——'
'Excuse me—hic,' interrupted the soldier. 'Are you one man—hic—or two men?'
'One man,' Zeno answered. 'Only one, and so drunk that I have quite forgotten the password.'
'Sec—hic—ret,' hiccoughed the man. 'Password secret,' he repeated, with a tremendous effort.
'Here is a gold piece, my dear friend. You will help a comrade in trouble.'
The man took the money eagerly, and tried to put it into his wallet. To do so he had to bend his head down so as to see the thongs that fastened it. It took a long time to find them.