"
"But what the devil is his face like ivory for, my fanfarons?"
"So that he shall not blush for us. He is a grand seigneur," they shouted
back.
"Why are his eyes like torches, my ragamuffins?"
"To show us the way home."
Valmond appeared upon the balcony.
"What is it you wish, my children?" he asked. "Brother," said the
fantastic leader, "we've lost our way. Will you lead us home again?"
"It is a long travel," he answered, after the fashion of their own
symbols. "There are high hills to climb; there may be wild beasts in the
way; and storms come down the mountains."
"We have strong hearts, and you have a silver sword, brother."
"I cannot see your faces, to know if you are true, my children," he
answered.
Instantly the clothes flew off, masks fell, pumpkins came crashing to the
ground, the stilts of the marshals dropped, and thirty men stood upon the
drays in crude military order, with muskets in their hands and cockades
in their caps. At that moment also, a flag--the Tricolor--fluttered upon
the staff at Valmond's window. The roll of a drum came out of the street
somewhere, and presently the people fell back before sixty armed men,
marching in columns, under Lagroin, while from the opposite direction
came Lajeunesse with sixty others, silent all, till they reached the
drays and formed round them slowly.
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