“Serve me right,” growled Bill, “I’m sailing under false colours. The beggar that owned these clothes had legs no bigger than handspikes.”
Just as day began to dawn, they had passed over all the rocks, and come upon a fine sandy beach, and right before them appeared a long range of lofty sand-hills. As the sun rose, our hero paused between two of these sand-hills, covered here and there with stunted marine plants.
“Now, Bill,” he observed, turning to his companion, and observing with a smile the oddity of his appearance, his trousers scarcely reaching his knees, his coat too short, and stretched to bursting, and on his head a red cap, like a night-cap. “Why, Bill, you made but a bad fit of it last night; your garments are far too small.”
“Small!” repeated Bill, with infinite disgust, looking down at his powerful limbs, encased so tightly from the wet that they seemed a part of his skin. “They aint fit, sir, for a powder-monkey. There was no time, you know, to try others; it’s very lucky your honour found the skipper’s; he was a tall, powerful brute; but I had no such luck.”
“Never mind, Bill, they will fit better when dry, and as I have secured some cash from the skipper’s desk—fair spoil in war—I will soon new rig you when we get to a town; but mind, you must not speak a word. I shall pass you off as being dumb.”
Bill smiled grimly and clenched his huge hand.
“Yes, sir, all right; I’ll be dumb enough, seeing as how I don’t understand their confounded parley-voo; but they had better keep their hands off me. I’ll never spare a couple of lubbers again, if I can get my fingers round their throats.”
“Well, now pull off your garments; here’s a fine hot April sun; they will dry in less than an hour.”
“Never get them off, sir, without a knife. Let them dry where they are; it’s all the same to me. Just let me dry your clothes, sir.”
“It is not likely we shall be intruded on here,” said Lieutenant Thornton, sticking his jacket on a stunted shrub; “and I think after we cross this line of sand-hills, we shall not be more than three miles from Fecamp, where, with a little skill and management, we may be able to seize a fishing-boat, and put to sea.”