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Updated: June 7, 2025
"Non, non, monsieur," I protested, and then reverted to English. "Now," said Dawson, when Trehayne had left us, "I must get along, see the Commander of the Malplaquet, and draw a uniform and rifle out of the marine stores. It will be quite like old times. You won't see me until Saturday, when I shall be either a triumphant or a broken man. What is the betting, Mr. Copplestone?"
I should feel happier if they would accept it, for I have, as you will presently learn, taken some of their names in vain. I have not broken any oath, and I have not used your pay; my honour is unstained. He had not even winced at least not visibly when Trehayne had held him free from every moral scruple. He must, I think, have read the letter many times before he had handed it to me.
Trehayne was too much of a gentleman to have become a workman in the Vernon and at Greenock without some very good reason. He said that he was an orphan yes; he said his parents left him penniless, and he had to earn his living the best way he could yes. Quite good reasons, but they didn't convince me. I was certain sure that somewhere, some time, Trehayne had been a naval officer.
"If I may make a suggestion to a man of your experience it would be that none of your men here, not even your chief assistant or Trehayne, should know that you are joining the Malplaquet as a Marine. Two independent strings are in this case better than a double-jointed string." "I never tell anything to any one, least of all to Pudden-Headed Wilson.
"You see, I have a letter from him. I found it in his quarters where I went straight from the Malplaquet." "May we read it?" I asked gently. "I was greatly taken with Trehayne myself. He was a clean, beautiful boy. He was an enemy officer on Secret Service; there is no dishonour in that.
What I do matters a heap, but what I say pouf! I sent Trehayne to the Antigone to test him. I sent him expecting that he would try to cut her wires, and he did. Then when I was sure, though I had no evidence for a law court, I sent him to the Malplaquet, and I set my trap there for him to walk into. How did I guess? I don't guess; I watch.
There were many English families in Portsmouth and Southsea who were graciously pleased to recognise that John Trehayne, trade unionist, and weekly wage-earning workman, was a gentleman by birth and breeding.
"If the shore party had all gone, how was it that I saw Petty Officer Trehayne in the ship?" "He had orders to stay and keep watch though he didn't know I was on board myself. Two pairs of police eyes are better than one pair, and fifty times better than all the Navy eyes in the ship. Of all the simple-minded, unsuspicious beggars in the world, give me a pack of naval ratings!
The French spoken by Trehayne was the French of the nursery. It was almost, if not quite, his mother tongue, just as his English was. Trehayne's French accent did not fit into Trehayne's history as retailed to us by Dawson. From that moment I plumped for Trehayne as the cutter of gun wires." Dawson had been listening, though he showed no interest in my speech.
You talk too much. And don't admit any one except Petty Officer Trehayne." "The Antigone!" cried Cary, who thought only of ships. "The Antigone! Is she much damaged?" "No. Whoever tried to cut her wires was disturbed, or in too great a hurry to do his work well. The main gun-cable was nipped, but not cut through. She will be delayed till to-morrow, not longer.
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