ad brought
into prominence the faults and weaknesses of the leadsman, he had, as it
were, acquired them, and that flash from the leadsman's eye had rammed
them down to the very bottom of his soul, just as a ramrod pushes the
powder into the barrel of a gun. He was charged with the leadsman, so to
speak, and therefore, as he stepped out into the street he at once began
to shout and boast. But this time luck was against him. A policeman
ordered him to be quiet. The fool said something funny, imitating the
leadsman's provincial accent. But the policeman, who happened to be a
native of the same province, was annoyed and wanted to arrest the fool.
Now it is just as difficult for a fool to take a thing seriously as it
is for a policeman to understand a joke; therefore the fool resisted
and created such a disturbance that the policeman struck him with his
truncheon.

He received a sound beating, and then the policeman let him go.

You would think that he had had enough trouble now--far from it!

The chastisement which he had received had only embittered him, and he
went on the warpath, like a red Indian, to see on whom he might avenge
his wrongs.

Accident, or some other power, guided his footsteps to a locality mainly
frequented by peasants and labourers. He entered a brewery and found a
number of millers and farmer's labourers sitting round a table, drinking
the health of the explorers. When they saw the fool they took him for
the leadsman, and were highly delighted when he condescended to take a
glass in their company.

Now the demon of pride entered into the soul of the fool. He boasted
of his great achievements; he told them that it was he who had led the
expedition, for would they not have foundered if he had not sounded the
depth of the sea? Would they ever have returned home if he had not read
the stars?

Smack! an egg hit him between the eyebrows.

"Leadsman, you're a braggart!" said the miller. "We've known that for a
long time; we knew it when you wrote to the paper saying the Great Man
was another Humboldt!"

Now another of the leadsman's weaknesses gained the upper hand.

"The Great Man is a humbug!" he exclaimed, which was not true.

This was too much for the assembly. They rose from their seats like one
man, seized the fool, and with a leather strap bound him to a sack of
flour. They covered him with flour until he was white from top to toe,
and blackened his face with the wick from one of the lanter