Pierre, my acquaintance of the day before, was a barber. I set out for his shop immediately upon leaving Lady Marmaduke. I found him alone and explained to him that I was employed on important business, and that he must make haste to procure me a suit of clothes in which I could disguise myself as a sailor. Instead of setting about the task which I thus imposed upon him, he made a comical gesture of dismay and stood fast where he was.
“It’s of no use,” he said. “The Red Band will see me. They watch everywhere. If they see me buying clothes and get a look at what they are like, where will be the use of the disguise?”
I reflected a moment, for what he said had some show of truth in it. After a moment’s thought, however, I concluded that his fears were idle.
“Pish, Pierre! You are too cautious. Do as I tell you.”
“I tell you it cannot be done. They have their eye on you; and now that you have come here they will have their eye on me. What did I tell you?”
At that moment, a sailor of the Red Band entered the shop and asked to be shaved. Pierre tried not to look surprised as he set about the task. Once, when he stood with his razor in the air, I saw the fellow’s cheek go white as the lather itself. Perhaps he was thinking of what might happen if Pierre suspected what had really brought him into the shop. A person while being shaved is in an ill position to defend himself if the barber is murderously inclined. For all that, I set the fellow down as a bully and a coward. The change in his face convinced me beyond a doubt that he had come there to spy. It confirmed what Pierre had said a moment before concerning the watchfulness of the Red Band; and it was not to be long before I should have another example of their alert interest in my affairs.
When Pierre had finished shaving his customer, the man arose and adjusted his neckband slowly. Then he tossed a coin into the corner. I soon saw that this was but a ruse to get Pierre out of the way for the visitor had a word to say to me. Pierre went after the coin, which rolled into the farthest corner. The sailor, as he passed me on the way to the door, said in a low voice,
“The Red Band is not asleep. Beware.”
“Ay, beware!” I flung back into his teeth as he went out of the shop.
“I told you it would not do,” said Pierre, when I informed him of this little episode. He put the coin into his mouth and bit it. “This is good money. That is more than I expected. Now what do you intend to do?”