"I dare say not, but you must prove to me who you are."
There was nothing more to be said. I had to abandon my equipment and flee. Before leaving, however, my comrade said to me: "Don't be discouraged. Go to the Bureau de la Place—military headquarters—and tell them that, being an orphan, you left Monaco to follow a regiment, and see what they say. Bonne chance."
Having embraced him, I set off and went straight to headquarters. Entering the first office I came to, I saw four or five officers, including a doctor, in conversation. Hardly had I crossed the threshold than one of them exclaimed:
"What do you want here, boy?"
"Let me tell you, please, that I was at Monaco——"
"And now you're at Belfort!"
"——at the beginning of the war. My father had left to join his corps, and being alone I left in a train to come here and go on campaign with the soldiers."
"You've come here, then, to enlist?"
"No, I cannot do that; I'm not old enough."
"Ah, bon! Why are you here then?"