Joe chose a way as effective as it was simple. He caught up a
handful of straw and stuffed it between the officer's teeth.
And now some of the circumstances reminded me of the similar
mischance that had befallen me on the Bristowe road. There also the
scene had passed in a ruined building strewn with straw. And the
recollection of the indignity I had suffered at the hands of Topper
and his fellows, coupled with the sight of the three deserters
lying manacled and open-mouthed against the wall, gave me an idea
that pleased me mightily. I had once changed clothes against my
will; why should not Monsieur le Capitaine learn humility in the
same way? He was about my height: his clothes would certainly fit
me better than Job the poacher's had done; and whereas my former
change had been for the worse, the change I contemplated should
turn out very much for the better, and so the whirligig of time
would have his revenges.
I told my comrades what I had in mind.
"All very well for you, sir," said the bosun bluntly, "but what
about us tars?"
"Why, some of you can slip into the Frenchmen's clothes," I
replied. "You won't get a fit, I fear, bosun; you are overgrown" (I
smiled as the words others had used about me came unbidden to my
lips); "but the sergeant there is very much Joe Punchard's figure,
and five of you can make shift, I daresay. You would make quite a
pretty squad of Frenchmen, and show a little more brawn."
"But what's the good, sir?" objected Tolliday.
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