Carl Schummel, alone, with none to look or to listen, was not quite so grand a fellow as Carl Schummel strutting about in his boots.
XXIII
BEFORE THE COURT
You may believe the landlord's daughter bestirred herself to prepare a good meal for the boys next morning. Mynheer had a Chinese gong that could make more noise than a dozen of breakfast bells. Its hideous reveille, clanging through the house, generally startled the drowsiest lodgers into activity, but the maiden would not allow it to be sounded this morning:
"Let the brave young gentlemen sleep," she said, to the greasy kitchen boy; "they shall be warmly fed when they waken."
It was ten o'clock when Captain Peter and his band came straggling down one by one.
"A pretty hour," said mine host, gruffly. "It is high time we were before the court. Fine business this for a respectable inn. You will testify truly, young masters, that you found most excellent fare and lodgment at the Red Lion?"
"Of course we will," answered Carl, saucily, "and pleasant company, too, though they visit at rather unseasonable hours."