I
was upon him. He turned aside, leapt a low dyke into a field, and
picked up his heels so nimbly that, though I was pretty quick of
foot, I was by no means sure of my power to overtake him.

But he had left me the horse. Quickly untethering it, I mounted, and
set off after the runaway. And then my practice in cross-country
riding about Shrewsbury served me well; I did not hesitate to set
the beast at the dykes that divided the fields; he took them gamely,
and after five minutes of as mad a steeplechase as I ever enjoyed
I came up with the fugitive. He sprang aside, drew his sword, and
seemed to be for showing fight: but when I wheeled the horse and
threatened to ride him down he saw that the game was up, and, sullenly
surrendering his sword, marched back before me to the farm.

Then I found that my comrades had already finished the business.
They had hauled the Frenchmen back into the room where their
captain lay, screeching abuse at Joe and the bosun, who smiled at
him encouragingly. The Frenchmen's faces bore marks of punishment;
several of them had signs of war upon their sleeves, which they had
used to stanch their noses. So loudly did the captain vituperate me
that I had to ask Joe to silence him; it was necessary for us to
hold a council of war, and quiet discourse was impossible while the
Frenchman raved.

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
replie