e had
nothing for near twelve hours, mon capitaine, and marching best
part of the time."

"Well, give them a crust," said the captain, lazily throwing
himself back on the straw; "but it is waste, sheer waste."

The sergeant rose and, taking some scraps of food, crossed the room
and disappeared from my sight. I knew now that the deserters of
whom they had spoken were actually in the place with them, and
found myself pitying the fate of men who had had the ill luck to
fall into the hands of so coldly brutal an officer as this captain.

Then I turned about with a start, having the strange feeling--for
I heard nothing--that someone was moving behind me. It was Runnles.
He came towards me stealthily, wearing that meek, shy look of his,
and told me in a whisper that Joe Punchard had sent him to see what
had become of me. At the sight of him a fantastic notion buzzed
into my head. I caught him by the sleeve and whispered eagerly in
his ear, his eyes becoming two round O's with excitement as he
listened. He stole away again, and I turned once more to my
business of eavesdropping.

"They eat like pigs," I heard the captain say to the sergeant, who
had returned to his lair on the straw. "These peasants never lose
the ill manners bred in them. And those English dogs who have
escaped from prison--how do I know they are peasants, too, Jules?"

"I can not tell, mon capitaine," says the sergeant.

"Why, because you may be sure they have done a foolish thing, like
these deserters of ours. They are seamen; depend upon it, they have
made straight for the coast, and we shall soon hear that they have
been taken."

I could not help smiling at the ingenuousness of the captain's
reasoning.

"My faith!" he went on, "I wish we were going from Rennes to St.
Malo instead of from St. Malo to Rennes. I should have loved to
join in the hunt for the rascals, and I doubt not you, Jules, would
be glad enough to get some portion of the reward offered for their
capture. Ah, well! the others will have the luck; but I would give
something to see those English dogs when--"

And here I pushed wide the door.

"Am I permitted to enter, messieurs?" I said in my best French, and
giving the captain a pleasant smile. Lying at full length with his
head on his arms, he could not clearly see me. The men stared at
me, but did not move nor speak, waiting dutifully for their
officer. He raised himself on his elbow.

"Who are you?" he asks, looking me up