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It is a great pity that these ponies have been allowed to become practically extinct in the Cape Colony. For hardiness and docility they were unequalled. Like so much else, they melted away in the coffers of the canteen-keeper. Socially, King William's Town was in a most curious condition. The military absolutely ruled the roost.
But the canteen-keeper objected to this. Even when Trautvetter offered him ten, twenty marks for the loan, he remained obstinate. The volunteer struck the counter furiously. "Pig-headed fool!" he cried. "Will you do it for fifty?" The canteen-keeper hesitated. He had settled up the day before; there was not much risk for him, and fifty marks ! "Give me your note-of-hand," he demanded,
I got it, however, on the hire-purchase system, and paid so much a month, like grisettes do for their furniture. "At that time, I had the apartments I had so long dreamed of: warm, elegant, light, well-arranged, with two entrances, and an incomparable porter's wife; she had been canteen-keeper in a Zouave regiment, and knew everything and understood everything at a wink.
"Madame Piquignolles, the retired canteen-keeper, took great interest in this adventure, watched over their little love affair, and, as she used to say, she was on guard as soon as they arrived one after the other, the marchioness covered with a thick veil, and slipping in as quickly as possible, always uneasy, and afraid that Monsieur de Fréjus might be following her, and Stanis with the assured and satisfied look of an amorous husband, who is going to meet his little wife after having been away from home for a few days.
It was all one to him where he lived: was there not beer in the canteen? and if one paid for it the canteen-keeper, despite the prohibition, would let one have a case of bottled ale. The non-coms, of course would drink with him; then they would all be a pleasant company together. He was right in his calculations: none of them could withstand the good cigars and drinks which he distributed freely.
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