"What! Another regiment coming to attack us!"
"No, it is not a regiment. It is one man carrying a small white flag, and another, an officer, walking by his side. Oh, it must be a flag of truce, Jack! See, there he is, turning the corner of the street."
It was as she said. Above the epaulement protecting the French gun at the end of the street a white flag was held aloft. A moment afterwards the Frenchman bearing it stepped into the street, and, accompanied by an officer, began to approach Jack's position, picking his way among the débris and the bodies of the slain.
"I must go to meet him," said Jack. "Have you anything to match his flag, Juanita? I've nothing fit to be seen."
Juanita handed him her handkerchief. Tying this to a musket, Jack gave his extemporized flag to one of his men, and walked down the street to meet the Frenchman.
CHAPTER XXIX
French Leave
Overtures—Capitulation—Prisoners of War—Colonel de Ferrusat—In Tudela—Personally Conducted—Adding Insult to Injury—Quos ego—Before a Fall—Out of Bondage
Meeting midway down the street, the officers courteously saluted each other.
"I come with a flag of truce, Señor," said the Frenchman in very bad Spanish.