Then he said to the other:
"Go away."
The other went away.
The man at once returned to the adjutant and said:
"Lieutenant, pray be so good as to tell the major that Don Luis Perenna, a Spanish grandee and a Frenchman at heart, wishes to take service in the Foreign Legion. Go, my friend."
The flabbergasted adjutant did not move.
"Go, my friend, and go at once. I have no time to waste."
The adjutant rose, looked at his astounding visitor with a bewildered eye and went out in the tamest fashion.
Then Lupin lit a cigarette and, sitting down in the adjutant's chair, said, aloud:
"As the sea refused to have anything to say to me, or rather as I, at the last moment, refused to have anything to say to the sea, we'll go and see if the bullets of the Moors are more compassionate. And, in any case, it will be a smarter finish. . . . Face the enemy, Lupin, and all for France! . . ."