"Good biz. The N.C.O.'s haven't come off so badly, what?"
He turned round in a fury.
"What do you mean?"
I understood. He must have thought I was alluding to that stupid affair of the stripes, which had gone quite out of my head. So I turned to Humel:
"Was it you who saw Frémont fall?"
"Yes."
"Where was he hit?"
"Oh, look here! One has all one can do to look after oneself!"
The quartermaster-sergeant was making signs to us in the distance. We went towards him. Guillaumin enlightened me on the way.
"That Descroix business was a put-up job, you know. He doesn't like it talked about."