"I do not know how it happened, but the next moment we were out in the
rain and darkness. This was not the first time that I have been refused
a lodging. Often and often I have planned what I would do if such a
misadventure happened to me again, and nothing is easier to plan. But to
put in execution, with a heart boiling at the indignity? Try it, try it
only once, and tell me what you did."
Frequently on this trip the Arethusa's odd dress and foreign looks led
him to be taken for a spy. It was not long after the Franco-Prussian
war, and all sorts of rumors of suspicious characters were afloat. Once
he was actually arrested and thrown into a dungeon because he could show
no passport, and the commissary refused to believe he was English and
puzzled his head over the scraps of notes and verses found in his
knapsack.
He was rescued by the faithful Cigarette, who finally convinced the
officials that they were British gentlemen travelling in this odd way
Page annotations:
Add a page annotation: