Upon the eleventh of November the boys arrived at Tours. They had
started for that place, as the national headquarters, the moment
they arrived at Cherbourg. At Tours men's hopes were high for, a
week before, Aurelles de Paladine had driven back Von der Tann, and
reoccupied Orleans. Every hour fresh troops were arriving, and
passing forwards. The town was literally thronged with soldiers, of
all sorts: batteries of artillery, regiments of cavalry, squadrons
of Arab Spahis--looking strangely out of place in their white
robes, and unmoved countenance, in this scene of European
warfare--franc tireurs, in every possible variety of absurd and
unsuitable uniform.
In all this din and confusion, the young Barclays felt quite
bewildered. The first thing was, evidently, to get new uniforms;
then to report themselves. There was no difficulty about the former
matter, for every tailor in Tours had, for the time being, turned
military outfitter and, by dint of offering to pay extra, their
uniforms were promised for the next morning. That matter settled,
they determined to go at once to the Prefecture, and report
themselves.
As they turned out of the crowded Rue Royal, they received two
hearty slaps on the shoulder, which almost knocked them down; while
a hearty voice exclaimed:
"My dear boys, I am glad to see you!"
They looked round and--to their astonishment and delight--saw
Colonel Tempe. For a minute or two, the hand shakings and greetings
were so hearty that no questions could be asked.
"I thought a German prison would not hold you long, boys," the
colonel said. "I saw your father, as I came through Dijon; and I
said to him that I should be surprised if you did not turn up soon,
especially when I heard from him that you were at Mayence, only two
days' tramp from the frontier."
"But what are you doing here, colonel?"
"Just at present, I am working at headquarters. Between ourselves,
the army of the east is coming round to join Aurelles. Our poor
fellows were pretty nearly used up, and I found that I could do
little real good with the other corps. So I gave up the command;
and was sent here to confer with Gambetta, and he has kept me.
"Now, what are you going to do?"
"We were going to report ourselves, colonel."
"No use going today--too late. Come and dine with me, at the
Bordeaux. Have you got rooms?"
"Not yet, colonel."
"Then I can tell you you won't get them, at all. The place is
crowded--not a bed to be had, for love or money. I've got rooms, by
the greatest good luck. One of you can have the sofa; the other an
armchair, or the hearth rug, whichever suits you best."
"Thank you, very much; we shall do capitally," the boys said.
"And now, have you any news from Paris?"
"We have no late news from Paris but, worse still, the news gets
very slowly and irregularly into Paris. The pigeons seem to get
bewildered with the snow, or else the Prussians shoot them."
"But surely, with such an immense circle to guard, there could be
no great difficulty in a messenger finding his way in?"
"There is a difficulty, and a very great one," Colonel Tempe said;
"for of all who have tried, only one or two have succeeded. Now
come along, or we shall be late for dinner."
It was a curious medley at the table d'hote, at the Hotel de
Bordeaux. Generals, with their breasts covered with orders, and
simple franc tireurs; officers, of every arm of the service;
ministers and members of the late Corps Legislatif; an American
gentleman, with his family; English newspaper correspondents; army
contractors; and families, refugees from Paris. After dinner they
went to a cafe--literally crowded with officers--and thence to
Colonel Tempe's rooms, where they sat down quietly, to chat over
what had taken place since the last visit.
"But where is your Irishman? Your father told me he was with you. I
suppose you could not get him out."
"Oh yes, Tim's here," Ralph said, laughing, "but he ran across a
couple of Irishmen belonging to the foreign legion and--as he would
have been in our way, and we did not know where we were going to
sleep--we gave him leave till to-morrow morning, when he is to meet
us in front of the railway station."
"By the way, boys, I suppose you know you have each got a step?"
"No," the boys cried. "Really?"
"Yes, really," the colonel said. "That good fellow, Cambriels, sent
in a strong report in your favor upon resigning his command;
rehearsing what you did with us, and requesting that the step might
be at once given to you. As a matter of course it was, in the next
Gazette."
"Of course, we feel pleased, colonel; but it seems absurd, so young
as we are. Why, if we go on like this, in another six months we may
be majors."
"In ordinary times it would be absurd, lads; and it would not be
possible for you to hold the grade you do now--still less higher
ones--unless you understood thoroughly your duty. At the present
moment, everything is exceptional. A man who, perhaps, only served
a few months in the army, years ago, is made a general, and sent to
organize a camp of new levies. Of course, he could not command
these troops in the field, could not even drill them on the parade
ground. But that is of no matter. He has a talent for organization,
and therefore is selected to organize the camp and, to enable him
to do so efficiently, he receives the nominal rank of general.
"In ordinary times a man could not get promoted--three or even four
times, in as many weeks--over the heads of hundreds of others,
without causing an immense amount of jealousy; without, in fact,
upsetting the whole traditions of the army.
"Now, it is altogether different. The officers of the regular army
are almost all prisoners. Everyone is new, everyone is unaccustomed
to his work; and men who show themselves to be good men can be
rewarded and promoted with exceptional rapidity, without exciting
any feeling of jealousy, whatever. Besides which, the whole thing
is provisional. When the war is over, everyone will either go back
into private life or, if they continue to serve, will be gazetted
into the regular army, according to some scale or other to be
hereafter determined upon. Some inconveniences no doubt will arise,
but they will hardly be serious.
"I was offered a general's rank, a month ago; but I declined it, as
it would have entailed either my undertaking duties for which I am
unfit; or setting to, to organize young levies, and giving up
active service.
"No, if you go on as you have hitherto done, boys, you may be
colonels in another six months; for when a name is recommended for
promotion for good service, by a general, you may well suppose
there is no question asked as to his age. Of course, no general
would recommend you as captains to command companies in a regiment,
because you are altogether ignorant of a captain's duty; but you
are quite capable of filling the duties of captain, on the staff,
as those duties require only clear headedness, pluck, attention,
and common sense.
"What I should like to win, even more than a company--were I in
your place--would be a commander's cross in the legion of honor. I
had the cross, years ago; but I only had the commander's cross a
fortnight ago, for the Bridge of Vesouze."
"Ah, yes," Ralph said, "that would be worth winning, but that is
hopeless."
Colonel Tempe was silent. Ralph and Percy looked at him.
"You mean," Ralph said, after a pause, "that there is a chance of
our winning it."
"Well, boys," Colonel Tempe said, "I don't know that I am right in
leading you into danger, but I do think that you might win it. I
was mentioning your names, only yesterday, to Gambetta. A dispatch
had just come in from Paris, grumbling at receiving no news from
the country; and Gambetta was lamenting over the impossibility of
arranging for simultaneous movements, owing to the breakdown of the
pigeons, and the failure of the messengers; when I said:
"'There were two young English fellows with us, in the Vosges--they
were on Cambriels' staff last, and are now prisoners--who if they
were here would, I believe, get in if anyone could. They went down,
over and over again, among the Germans; and I could lay any money
that they would succeed.'
"'How did they get taken prisoners?' Gambetta asked, as sharp as a
knife.
"'By no fault of their own,' I answered. 'They went out on leave,
to see me; and slept with a party of franc tireurs--where they of
course had no authority, as to sentries--and the party was
surprised, at night, and completely cut up. They were taken
prisoners, but I do not expect that they will remain so for long.'
"Gambetta did not say anything, then; but when I left him, an hour
afterwards, he remarked:
"'If you hear of those young fellows you were speaking of having
returned, send them to me, Tempe.'"
Ralph looked at Percy, and checked the offer to go which he saw was
on his brother's lips.
"I think it might be done, colonel," he said, quietly; "but it is a
serious matter, and we will think it over, before we give an
opinion."
Ralph then changed the subject, and they talked over the events
which had happened in the Vosges, the strategy and maneuvers of
General Michel, the arrival of Garibaldi, the doings of the franc
tireurs, etc.
"By the way," the colonel said, "there was a telegram in, this
evening--just as I left the office--that the Germans occupied
Dijon, yesterday."
"You don't say so!" the boys said, jumping from their seats. "Was
there any fighting?"
"Yes, some Mobiles and franc tireurs made a very plucky defense,
outside the town. Owing to some gross mismanagement, the great bulk
of the troops had been withdrawn, only the day before. After two or
three hours' fighting, our men fell back; the Prussians, as usual,
shelled the town; and the authorities surrendered."
"The fighting could not have been our side of the town," Ralph
said, thoughtfully.
"No, just the other side," Colonel Tempe said. "As my wife is still
at home, and our place is not many hundred yards from yours, that
was the first thing I thought of."
"I wonder if papa was in the fight?" Percy said, anxiously.
"I should think it probable, boys, that my old friend would have
gone out; but I do not think that you need be uneasy about it for,
from what the telegram said, our loss was small. The troops fell
back into the town, and retreated unmolested through it. So your
father would, no doubt, have changed his things in the town, and
have walked quietly back again.
"He had volunteered into the national guard, when I came last
through Dijon; and was hard at work, drilling them. Of course, he
had his old rank of captain."
At ten o'clock the boys said that they would go for a stroll,
before lying down for the night. They were out upwards of an hour;
and returned, at the end of that time, with serious but resolved
faces. The colonel was out, when they returned; and found them
stretched on the sofa and hearth rug, when he came in. They gave
him a sleepy good night, and no other word was exchanged.
In the morning, they were up at eight o'clock. Colonel Tempe was
already dressed, and they went out together to get their coffee and
milk. As they were taking it, Ralph told him that they had made up
their minds to make the attempt to enter Paris, with dispatches;
but that they saw but one way to do so; and that, unless they could
be furnished with the necessary papers, they should abandon all
idea of the enterprise.
Ten minutes later, they entered the Prefecture. Colonel Tempe went
in at once to see Gambetta, while the boys remained in the
anteroom. In ten minutes their friend came out again, and beckoned
to them to come into the next room.
"These are the Lieutenants Barclay," he said.
The boys bowed; and examined, with attentive curiosity, the man who
was, at that time, the absolute ruler of France. A dark man; with a
short black beard, keen eyes, and a look of self reliance and
energy. A man who committed endless mistakes, but who was the life
and soul of the French resistance. A man to whom--had he lived in
olden times--the Romans would have erected a statue because, in her
deepest misfortunes, he never despaired of the Republic.
He looked keenly at the young men.
"Colonel Tempe tells me that you have rendered very great service,
by going among the enemy in disguise; and that you are willing to
make an attempt to carry dispatches into Paris."
"We are ready to try," Ralph said, respectfully; "but after talking
it over in every way, we can see but one disguise which would
enable us to penetrate the enemy's lines, near enough to the ground
between the two armies to render an attempt possible; and even that
disguise will be useless, unless we can procure certain papers."
"What is your plan?" Monsieur Gambetta asked.
"We intend to go as German Jews," Ralph said. "The Prussians strip
all the clocks, pictures, and furniture of any value from the
villas they occupy, and send them back to Germany. There are a
number of Jews who follow the army; and either buy these stolen
goods from them, or undertake to convey them back to Germany at a
certain price. Several of these Jews--with their wagons full of
clocks, and other articles--have been captured by our franc tireurs
or troops and, no doubt, papers of some kind have been found upon
them. These papers would naturally be sent here. If we could be
provided with them we could, I have little doubt, penetrate their
lines."
"An excellent idea," the minister said. "I have no doubt that we
have such papers."
And he struck a small hand bell on the table. An attendant entered.
"Tell Captain Verre I wish to speak to him."
"Captain Verre," he said, when that officer entered, "there were
some papers came last week, from General Faidherbe, relative to
those wagons--laden with clocks, ladies' dresses, and so on--that
were captured near Mezieres. Just look through them, and see if
there were any German permits for the bearers to pass freely, for
the purpose of trading. If so, let me have them at once."
The officer at once left the room.
"Supposing--as I have no doubt--that we can give you the papers,
what is your course?"
"Speed is, naturally, an essential," Ralph said. "We shall disguise
ourselves at once and, upon receipt of the dispatches, start from
here to Orleans by train; with two good horses--which can, of
course, be furnished us. We shall ride through the forest of
Orleans, and so to Montargis; cross the Loing there, and make
straight for Melun--keeping always through by-lanes. As far as we
know, there are no large bodies of the enemy along that line.
"When we get near the town, we shall leave our horses with some
village Maire, or give them to a farmer, and walk into the place
boldly. You will furnish us with a note to the Maire of Melun, as
well as a circular to all French authorities, to give us any help;
and we shall get him to assist us at once to buy a wagon, and two
strong horses. With these we shall drive round, direct, to
Versailles. Our pass will admit us into the town, without
difficulty; and then we shall naturally be guided by circumstances.
We must be furnished with a considerable sum of money, to make
purchases of plunder."
"An admirable plan," said the minister, warmly, "and one that
deserves--even should it not obtain--success.
"I need not speak to you of reward because, as gentlemen, I know
that you make the attempt from the love of honor Colonel Tempe has
before spoken to me of you, and you were highly commended by
General Cambriels. Your names will, therefore, be in the next
Gazette for the cross of the legion of honor; and if you succeed,
you will come back captains and commanders of the Legion. I may
mention--although I know that it will not add to your motive to
succeed--that you will be entitled to the reward, of fifty thousand
francs, which has been offered to anyone who will carry in
dispatches to Paris."
At this moment the officer entered.
"Here are the papers the Jews with the captured wagons carried," he
said. "They are signed by the general at Frankfort, and
countersigned by at least a dozen military authorities. There are
three of them."
The minister glanced at them.
"They will do well," he said. "Will you be ready to start tomorrow
morning?"
"Quite ready," Ralph said.
"Very well. Then if you will be here at half-past five, the
dispatches will be ready; written, of course, so as to fold up in
the smallest possible compass.
"Captain Verre, will you see that two of the best horses in my
stable are put into boxes, in the train that leaves at six tomorrow
morning."
The boys now rose to leave.
"Good morning," the minister said. "All the letters of
recommendation, the dispatches, and the money will be ready when
you come, in the morning."
The boys, on going out, held a long consultation over their
disguises. Examining the papers, they found that one was for two
persons of the same name--Isaac Kraph and Aaron Kraph--father and
son; the father, as described in the pass, forty-five years old,
the son eighteen. This pass they determined to use.
The task of changing Percy into a Jew boy, of eighteen, was
evidently an easy one. His clear complexion was the only
difficulty, and this could be readily disguised. Ralph's disguise
was a more difficult one; and there was a considerable debate as to
whether he had better go as a red Jew, or a dark Jew. The latter
was finally determined upon as, otherwise, the contrast between the
supposed father and son would be too striking.
They then went to their tailor, and found their uniforms ready.
They at once put them on, as the peculiarity of the purchases they
intended to make was so great that, had they been in their civilian
dress, it was certain that they would have been regarded with
suspicion; and would have, perhaps, had difficulty in obtaining
what they wanted.
Their first visit was to a hairdresser's shop. Rather to the
astonishment of the proprietor, they told him that they wished to
speak to him in a private room; and still more to his astonishment,
when the door was closed, they told him that they wanted their hair
dyed quite black. The hairdresser could hardly believe his ears.
The boys had both brown, wavy hair--Percy's being the lightest--and
that two young officers of the staff should, at such a time, desire
to dye their hair struck the man almost dumb with astonishment.
Ralph smiled.
"No wonder you are surprised, but we have an important mission to
carry out, and it is essential that we should be completely
disguised. We are going as spies into Von der Tann's camp. This, of
course, is in the strictest confidence."
The hairdresser was at once struck with the importance of the
occasion.
"You want an instantaneous dye?" he asked.
"Certainly," Ralph said, "and one that will last, at any rate, for
a week."
There was no difficulty whatever in complying with the request and,
in ten minutes, the boys' heads were raven in their blackness.
"Now," Ralph said, "I want my brother's hair--which is fortunately
very long--to be completely frizzled; and I want a pair of the
tongs you do it with, so as to be able to do it for ourselves."
This also was easy enough.
"Now," Ralph went on, "for myself, I want my hair to be very long;
to come down over my ears on to my collar, all the way round."
"But the only way to do that is to have a wig specially made for
you."
"Not at all," Ralph said. "I could not put on a wig, even if you
had one just as I want it, ready. The parting always shows, if it
is narrowly looked at. I want some long flat bands of hair, like
those you use for chignons. It must be black, to match my hair as
it is now; but put a few streaks of gray into it. I must have a
band of this hair, long enough to go round the head, from just
above one ear to just above the other. If you part my hair, just at
the place where the band is to go; brush the hair up; put the band
of artificial hair on, with shoemaker's wax, or something else to
hold tight; then brush the hair back again over the band, it would
be absolutely impossible to see it was not all natural. Then cut
the long hair so as to lie on my coat collar, frizzle it and the
natural hair, and I will defy the keenest-eyed Prussian to see
anything wrong about it."
As soon as the hairdresser understood exactly what Ralph wanted, he
entered heartily into his plans; and several of the short flat
bands of black hair, used for chignons, were sewn on to a band.
This was fastened on to Ralph's head, in the way he had suggested;
the long tresses were cut to the required length; the tongs were
used on them, and on the natural hair; and plenty of oil put on
and, in an hour, his headdress was perfect--an immense bush of
frizzly hair. The cloth was taken from round his neck and, as he
looked at himself in the glass, he joined heartily in Percy's shout
of laughter.
"But, Ralph, how are you to go out in your uniform, and that head
of hair?"
"Dear me," Ralph said, "I had quite forgotten that. Go to the
tailor's, Percy, and tell them to send the suit I changed there in
here, directly."
Percy went off for the clothes, and Ralph then went on:
"Now I want a black or grayish beard, whiskers, and mustache."
"I have not got such a thing," the hairdresser said, "but I know a
man who keeps them. I will get it for you, in a quarter of an
hour."
In a few minutes Percy returned, with a boy with Ralph's clothes.
In a short time they were ready to start.
"You do look a strange object, Ralph."
"Never mind, Percy, there are plenty of strange objects here. No
one will notice me."
Then saying that they would call in again in half an hour, for the
beard, they went to a chemist's; from whom--after some talk--they
obtained a mixture to give a slightly brown tinge to their faces.
They now dived into the back streets of the town, found a
second-hand clothes shop, and speedily got the articles they
required. Ralph had a long greatcoat, with a fur collar; and a pair
of high boots, coming up to his knees and to be worn over the
trousers. A black fur cap completed his costume. Percy had a black
cap, made of rough cloth, with a peak and with flaps to come down
over the ears; an old greatcoat, with fur round the pockets and
collar; a bright-colored handkerchief, to go two or three times
round the neck; and high boots like those of Ralph.
They then returned to the hairdresser, and Ralph insisted that the
beard and mustache should be fastened on not only in the ordinary
manner--with springs--but with cobbler's wax.
"My life," he said, "might depend upon the things not slipping, at
any moment."
They now went home. The moment that they entered their rooms, Ralph
exclaimed:
"Why, we have forgotten all about Tim!"
"So we have," Percy said. "He was to have met us in front of the
railway station at nine o'clock and, of course, he has no idea
where to find us. I will go there. Very likely the poor fellow is
waiting still."
Percy hurried off; and found Tim, as he had expected, sitting upon
the steps going up to the railway station. He jumped up, with a cry
of joy, upon seeing Percy.
"The Vargin be praised, Mister Percy! I began to think that you
must have been sent off somewhere, without time to warn me; and I
couldn't, for the life of me, make out what to do."
"We have not gone, Tim," Percy said, not wishing to hurt the
attached fellow's feelings, by telling him that he had been
forgotten; "but we are starting tomorrow. I will tell you all about
it, when we get in. We have been to see Monsieur Gambetta, this
morning and, do you know, we met Colonel Tempe last night, and are
stopping in his rooms."
So saying, he walked along at a quick pace towards their lodgings;
Tim occasionally glancing a puzzled look at him. By the time they
reached the room, Ralph had stained his face and hands, and was
busy dressing in his disguise. His back was to the door, when they
entered; but he had heard the Irishman's voice on the stair.
"Well, Tim, how are you?" he said, turning round.
"Holy Vargin!" ejaculated Tim, dropping into a chair, and crossing
himself with great fervor "Sure, I'm bewitched. Here's an ould
gentleman, wid a wonderful head of hair, has been staleing Mister
Ralph's voice."
The two boys went off in a shout of laughter at Tim's genuine
terror.
"Sure, I'm bewitched, entirely," he went on. "He laughs for all the
world like Mister Ralph. Did ye iver see the like?
"What is it all, Mister Percy dear?"
Percy had by this time taken off his cap; and Tim, as he looked him
fairly in the face, gave another start.
"By the mother of Moses!" he exclaimed, in terror, "we're all
bewitched. Mister Ralph's turned into an ould man, with a furze
bush of hair; and Mister Percy's beautiful hair has all turned
black, and shriveled itself up. Am I turning, myself, I wonder?"
and he looked into the glass, to see if any change had taken place
in his own abundant crop of red hair.
The boys were laughing so that they could not speak for some time,
and Tim sat gazing at them in speechless bewilderment. At last
Percy, by a great effort, recovered himself; and explained to him
the whole circumstances of the case. The Irishman's astonishment
ceased now, but his dismay was as great as ever.
"Then is it alone you're going?" he said, at last. "Are you going
into danger again, without taking me with you? You'd never do that,
surely, Mister Ralph?"
"I am very sorry, Tim, to be separated from you," Ralph said; "but
it is quite impossible for you to go with us. If you understood
French and German as well as we do, the case would be different;
but as it is, the thing is absolutely impossible. You know how
great a trouble it was to disguise you, before; and it would treble
our anxieties and difficulties. Not only that; but even if, in the
face of every possible danger, we got you into Paris with us, there
would be great difficulty in getting you out. Gambetta will give
orders for us to be allowed to come out, in the first balloon; but
it is by no means easy to get places in balloons, and it is
unlikely in the extreme that we should be able to bring you out
with us. So there you would be, shut up in Paris and separated from
us, for months.
"No, no, Tim, the matter is altogether impossible. You stay quietly
here and, in ten days or a fortnight--if all goes well--we shall be
back again with you."
"And is it in a balloon you're thinking of coming out, Mister
Ralph; flying like a bird through the air? Och, wirra, wirra! I'll
never see yees again."
"Nonsense, Tim, there's no danger in a balloon. If getting in were
no more dangerous than getting out, there would not be much peril
in the matter."
"Ah, Mister Ralph dear, how can you be risking your life, and the
life of your brother in that way? Shooting at a Prussian, or
getting shot at, is all well enough; or going among them with your
hair all puffed out, and your face painted brown, and the hair
growing all over your face before its time, I say nothing against;
but flying through the air, in a balloon, is just tempting the good
Providence. I know what it will be. You'll be just touching against
a cloud, and tumbling out, and breaking yourselves into
smithereens; and nothing to take home to your dear father and
mother, not to mention Miss Milly," and Tim fairly blubbered with
grief, at the thought.
The boys had great difficulty in pacifying the attached fellow; at
last, with a face expressive of mournful resignation, he agreed to
remain with Colonel Tempe until they returned; or until their
prolonged absence rendered it likely that they would not return at
all--Tim evidently making up his mind that the latter contingency
would happen. In that case, as Tim--now his corps had ceased to
exist--need no longer serve, he expressed his determination to
return to Dijon; and to stay with Captain Barclay until the end of
the war--as he should not, he said, have the heart to fight any
more, when his masters were both killed.
While the conversation had been going on, the boys had continued
their toilettes. The preparation which they had obtained gave them
an olive complexion; and their transformation was now so complete
that the boys would have passed each other unknown, even had they
looked steadily at each other. Ralph, especially, was utterly
unlike himself.
They now told Tim to go out and get his breakfast, and to return in
two hours' time; and then started themselves, rounding their
shoulders, and so narrowing their chests as much as possible. Ralph
stopped at an optician's, bought a pair of slightly-colored
spectacles, and put them on.
It was now twelve o'clock--the preparations having taken them three
hours--and they went to the cafe where they were to meet Colonel
Tempe, to breakfast. He was already there, and they walked up to
the table where he was sitting.
"These seats are engaged," Colonel Tempe said, shortly.
The Barclays sat down at the next table; and called, in a foreign
accent, for two glasses of beer. Then they spoke together, for some
little time, about a journey from Saint Malo which they had just
made; and Ralph then turned to Colonel Tempe, still speaking French
with a strong foreign accent.
"Pardon me, colonel," he said, "we have just arrived from England.
We have a very large quantity of army shoes, and I should feel
under a great obligation if you could inform me who is the proper
person to whom to apply."
Colonel Tempe at once informed them, adding:
"If your shoes are good ones, and the price fair, and you can
deliver them soon, you will not have to wait long; for they are
greatly wanted."
"We have also some harness, for artillery horses," Ralph added.
"I do not know about that," the colonel said; "but you will obtain
all information from the officer I have mentioned."
"Thank you very much," Ralph said, and returned to his seat.
Colonel Tempe looked at his watch, a little impatiently. Ralph,
after a minute or two, again approached him.
"Don't you think we may as well have breakfast, colonel?" he said,
in his natural voice.
The colonel looked at him, in speechless surprise.
"So the disguises are pretty good?" Ralph said, smiling.
"Impossible!" the colonel exclaimed. "Do my eyes or my ears deceive
me? Can it really be--?"
"It's us, sure enough, colonel; and now, I suppose we may as well
sit down."
So saying, the boys took their seats at the table; but Colonel
Tempe still looked from one to the other, in astonishment.
"Wonderful!" he at last said, "wonderful! Even now I know who it
is, I do not see the faintest possible resemblance.
"Percy is, of course, less altered than you are, Ralph, because he
is still young looking; but even now I should not recognize him. As
for you, with that wonderful head of hair, and that beard, you look
fifty; and as unlike yourself as possible. Upon my word, if it were
anywhere else but here in Tours--where there are all sorts of
oddities--I should be ashamed, as a colonel in the army, to sit
down to table with you."
"You are a little ashamed, as it is," Ralph laughed. "We had not
intended to come out in our new character, so soon; but when my
hair was once done, you see, it was impossible to go about in
uniform."
"But what in the world have you done with your hair?" the colonel
said, examining him closely; for Ralph had taken off his fur cap
and laid it beside him. "You have not got a wig on; and yet, all
that frizzly bunch cannot be your own."
Ralph explained how it was managed, and added:
"And now, colonel, that you have recovered from your surprise, let
us have breakfast."
Breakfast was ordered, to which the boys did full justice; but
Colonel Tempe was still getting on but slowly, for he could not
take his eyes off Ralph's face.
"Will all that frizzle keep in?" he asked, presently.
"Yes; the man said that the false hair--which is the greater
portion of it--will keep as well for a week; and we have got a
small curling iron, so we can beautify ourselves up when we like."
"Well, boys, I have no doubt, now, that you will be able to get as
far as Versailles; as to getting through, that's another
matter--but if anyone can, you will, I am convinced."
"I have not much doubt about it, colonel," Ralph said. "I seem to
see my way quite clearly into Paris. Much more clearly, indeed,
than I do to getting out again."
"Oh, it does not matter about getting out again, boys. You can stop
quietly in there, until the end of the siege."
"That is just what we don't want to do," Percy said. "Would you
kindly ask them to put into the dispatches a request that we may be
sent out again, by the first balloon that comes? We have no fancy,
either of us, for eating rats and cats; which I suppose is what it
will come to, before it is over."
"I will see to it, boys," the colonel said, smiling; "but really, I
should advise your staying there. You have done all--and more
than--your share of work."
The boys shook their heads; and it was arranged that, if they got
in, they should come out again in a balloon.
The next morning, the boys were up at half-past four and, at
half-past five, were at the Prefecture. Colonel Tempe sent in his
name to the minister, and they were at once admitted. Gambetta was
at his writing table.
"Good morning, Colonel Tempe," he said, cordially; and then added,
in some surprise, "who are these men you have with you, and where
are your young Englishmen? I hope they will not be late."
"These are they," the colonel said, smiling.
"They are who?" Gambetta said, puzzled. "I do not understand you,
colonel."
"These are the Lieutenants Barclay," Colonel Tempe said.
The minister looked from the colonel to the two boys, and back
again.
"Do you mean to say--?" he began, incredulously.
"Yes, sir, it is us," Ralph said; "and I do not think there is much
fear of our being recognized."
"So little that I do not recognize you, now.
"There is no mistake, colonel?" he said, gravely; "no
mystification? You give me your pledge, and assurance, that these
are the officers who have volunteered for this duty? Remember, any
mistake might be fatal."
"These are certainly the Barclays, sir. I give you my word."
"It is a marvelous disguise," Gambetta said, his doubts now laid at
rest; "and does them immense credit.
"There are the dispatches, gentlemen. They are done up in these two
quills, and sealed. They are of the utmost importance; and must
not, at any hazard, fall into the hands of the enemy. The
dispatches are in duplicate so that, in case one only gets in, the
purpose is served.
"This is a circular letter, to all maires and other French
authorities, ordering them to give you every possible assistance.
"This is a special note, to the Maire of Melun.
"Here is a letter to General Aurelles, at Orleans. If he is not in
when you arrive, the chief of his staff will do. He is ordered to
send a staff officer with you, through the lines, as far as you
require him. The horses are in the train.
"Now, goodbye. I wish you a very good future, for you are gallant
young fellows."
So saying, he shook them warmly by the hand; and they hurried off
to the train.