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meaning of this outrage?" came his muffled shriek. "Let me go, you fiend!"
"Heh, heh, heh," taunted Alex. He dragged the container over the floor to a chair
whereon lay strips of cloth torn off garments left by the dwellers here. Reaching beneath,
he hauled Snith out. Before the Krat could draw weapon, he was helpless in the grasp of a
far stronger being. Alex disarmed him, folded him with knees below jaws, and began
tying him.
"Help, murder, treason!" Snith cried. As expected, his thin tones did not penetrate
the door.
He regained a measure of self-control. "You're mad, insane," he gabbled. "How do
you imagine you can escape? What will Napoleon do if you've harmed his . . . his
Talleyrand? Stop this, Jones, and we can reach some modus vivendi."
"Yeah, sure," grunted Alex. He gagged his captive and left him trussed on the floor.
Heart pounding, the man spread out the disguise he had improvised from raiment
and bedding. Thus far his plan had succeeded better than he dared hope, but now it would
depend on his years of practice at playing out roles before Hokas, for the costume would
never have gotten by a human.
First he donned his Wellingtonian greatcoat. Into a capacious pocket he stuffed the
weakly struggling Snith. Thereafter he wrapped his hips in a blanket, which simulated a
skirt long enough to hide the boots he donned, and his upper body in a dress which had
belonged to the housewife and which on him became a sort of blouse. Over all he pinned
another blanket, to be a cloak with a cowl, and from that hood he hung a cheesecloth veil.
Here goes nothing, he thought, and minced daintily, for practice, through the cottage
to the farther door. It opened at his knock. An astonished Sergeant Le Galant gaped at the
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spectacle which confronted him. He hefted his musket. "Qui va là?" he demanded in a
slightly stunned voice.
Alex waved a languid hand. "Oh, sir," he answered falsetto, "please let me by. I'm so
tired. His Grace the Duke is a . . . a most vigorous gentleman. Oh, dear, and to think I
forgot to bring my smelling salts."
The Hoka's suspicions dissolved in a burst of romanticism. Naturally, he took for
granted that the lady had entered from the side opposite. "Ah, ma belle petite," he
burbled, while he kissed Alex's hand, "zis is a service you 'ave done not only for
Monsieur le Duc, but for France. We 'ave our reputation to maintain, non? Mille
remerciments. Adieu, et au revoir."
Sighing, he watched Alex sway off.
The mists had lifted, and everywhere Hoka soldiers stared at the strange figure,
whispered, nudged each other, and nodded knowingly. A number of them blew kisses.
Beneath his finery, Alex sweated. He must not move fast, or they would start to wonder;
yet he must get clear soon, before word reached Napoleon and made him wonder.
His freedom was less important than the prisoner he carried, and had been set at
double hazard for that exact reason. This, maybe, was the salvation of Toka. Maybe.
When he had climbed the ridge and entered the forest, Alex shouted for joy.
Henceforward he, as a woodsman, would undertake to elude any pursuit. He cast the
female garb from him. Attired in greatcoat and boots, the plenipotentiary of the
Interbeing League marched onward to the sea.
* * *
At his insistence, the flotilla recalled its marines and sought open water before the
French arrived. Nelson grumbled that retreat was not British, but the human mollified
him by describing the move as a strategic withdrawal for purposes of consolidation.
In Alex's cabin, he and Brob confronted Snith. The diminutive Krat did not lack
courage. He crouched on the bunk and spat defiance. "Never will I betray the cause! Do
your worst! And afterward, try to explain away my mangled body to your lily-livered
superiors."
"Torture is, needless to say, unthinkable," Brob agreed. "Nevertheless, we must
obtain the information that will enable us to thwart your plot against the peace. Would
you consider a large bribe?"
Alex fingered his newly smooth chin and scowled. The ship heeled to the wind.
Sunlight scythed through ports to glow on panels. He heard waves rumble and whoosh,
timbers creak, a cheerful sound of music and dance from the deck; he caught a whiff of
fresh salt air; not far off, if he flew, were Tanni and the kids. . . . Yes, he thought, this
was a lovely world in a splendid universe, and must be kept that way.
"Bribe?" Snith was retorting indignantly. "The bribe does not exist which can buy a
true Universal Nationalist. No, you are doomed, you decadent libertarians. You may have
kidnapped me, but elsewhere the sacred cause progresses apace. Soon the rest of this
planet will explode, and blow you onto the ash heap of history."
Alex nodded to himself. A nap had done wonders for him akin to those which had
happened ashore. Pieces of the puzzle clicked together, almost audibly.
Conspirators were active in unknown places around the globe. They must be rather
few, though; Snith appeared to have managed the entire Napoleonic phase by himself.
They must, also, have some means of communication, a code; and they must be ready at
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