[39] 26. hoquets d'agonie: dying gasps.
[39] 28. nom de nom: an abbreviated and softened form of an oath.
[39] 30. navrant: painful.
[40] 13. du jarret: muscle. The jarret is the sinew connecting the thigh and the calf of the leg.
[40] 23. turcos: a corps of the army.
[43] 31. échangent une accolade: embrace each other.
[45] 15. Dame! Well! The derivation of dame is the Latin vocative Domine, O Lord; quite remote from an English expression of similar consonance. It is a choice exclamation, essentially Parisian, and used by all people of education; ladies use the term as the Englishwoman uses "Gracious!"
[45] 15. soit: the subjunctive here well expresses the doubt in the trooper's mind. The idea of doubt or possibility is the basis of all subjunctive.
LE MAUVAIS ZOUAVE.
[46] 8-9. bonhomme: the fellow; un homme bon is a good man.