"It was a high personage, rowers--no less a personage than a prince--a royal prince."
"With the Duke of Orleans, much; rival to the throne, he is the friend of the people."
"Ah, yes, the friend of the people, and he wants us for something. That is a good contract," the Admiral interrupted. "Whose windpipe does he want to cut, and what does he promise to pay for it?"
"Nothing so risky; only some shouting, and as for the pay, here, Admiral, is the nose of the dog," and he handed him a full bag of coin.
The Admiral tore it open, and exhibited the metal to his greedy-eyed subordinates. Hache grabbed at a couple of the coins, and joyfully flipped them up to the ceiling.
"Now what does our friend the Duke of Orleans want? Our _friend_ the Duke of Orleans, _gentlemen_," the Admiral added, smiling ironically.
"To wear these badges and shout for him," replied Jude, displaying the contents of his parcel, a couple of dozen red woollen tuques.
"No objection," the Admiral answered; "no objection in the world, but what is the object?"
"Shut up with your 'Monsieurs', spy," called Hache. "Do you want us hunted for aristocrats?"
"Well, Citizen Admiral then, you know how things have been going since last spring. In May there was the holding of States-General; in June the National Assembly confront the nobles and swear never to disperse; in July the Court menaces to suppress the Parisians by the army; on the eleventh the people slaughtered by the Dragoons; on the fourteenth----"
"Ragmen, we have had good times since the 14th of July," said the Admiral. "It is now becoming our turn. I always told you it was coming, but I am going to give you better still. You are going to learn to love the sight of red blood better than red wine."
"The aristocrats," Jude continued, "have been skipping over the frontiers; the people starving and rising to their rights; we hung Councillor Foulon to the lantern----"
"And put grass in his mouth, the old animal!" exclaimed Wife Gougeon with vicious hate.
"The Big Hog," shouted a Councillor savagely.
"The Big Hog, then, has had his bristles singed with all this: the people despise him. Orleans is the people's favourite. What if the Galley-on-Land should put Orleans on the throne?"