A
new land is the place for you."
They discussed this suggestion among themselves, and at length
agreed to make the attempt. I then returned to my comrades, and
explained to them more fully my design. It was nothing less than to
personate the French captain, and to lead my party across country
just as he had been doing. The three deserters would exchange their
peasant rags for the uniforms of three of the French soldiers, and
three of my comrades would wear the uniforms of the rest. I hoped
that with courage and address and circumspection we might contrive
to keep up the imposture long enough to accomplish our ends.
My comrades, however, looked at the matter in a different light.
"'Tis all very fine," said the bosun gloomily, "but what about the
lingo, sir? We may dress up as much as you like, but nohow can we
twist our tongues to the jabber of these Frenchies, and I could no
more march a score of miles without using my clapper than I could
steer without a rudder."
"Then you will have to be wounded in the jaw," I said, "and Joe
will tie it up so that you can't open your mouth. We must pretend
that we had a desperate fight before we captured the deserters. We
must be very careful; I don't make light of the difficulties before
us, but we shouldn't be worth the name of English tars if we didn't
make the best use of this opportunity that Providence has offered
us."
"But what about the rest of us?" said Tolliday. "There bean't
enough uniforms to go round.
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