'When the battle was over it was discovered that nearly all the fighting workmen had retired to a big mine in the western half of the town. In the buildings of this and in a large factory alongside it they were going to make a last stand against the soldiers and die rather than be captured. But it didn't work out that way. When my Fusiliers were ordered to fire on the buildings they deliberately aimed the guns so that the cannon balls whistled harmlessly over the roofs. Again and again this was repeated until the general was livid with rage.
'By this time the workers inside the buildings, watching through loop–holes, had realized that the soldier were inclined to side with them. And while the general broke out into another tirade and confusion reigned, they suddenly opened the doors of the buildings and rushed forward towards the square at top speed.
'Well, in the end my gallant Fusiliers were defeated by a crowd of ragged workmen, half of them without arms of any kind. But of course they wanted to be defeated. Rather than be compelled to fire canons on unfortified buildings full of their fellow countrymen they were quite willing for once in their lives to be taken prisoners. I heard afterwards that they were sent abroad to more regular warlike fighting, where there would be no danger of their sympathizing with the enemy.
'In the meantime the baggage wagon on which my cage was tied was treated as the booty of war. And I suddenly found myself taken over by a couple of very dirty men and trundled out of the square, down some winding streets that seemed to be leading into the workmen's quarters of the town.
'My short but brilliant military career was over.'
As Pippinella came to the end of this part of her story Dab–Dab began to bustle around busily making preparations for bed. Although she enjoyed every word of the canary's account of her life, Dab–Dab was the practical one. She had to keep an eye on the Doctor and his family else they would sit up the whole night.
'Time for bed!' she said firmly. 'Tomorrow's another day—and a busy one.'
Then the Doctor and his family began tucking themselves away for the night. Too–Too perched high on a shelf in a dark corner of the caravan, Whitey curled up in the pocket of an old jacket which belonged to the Doctor, and Jip lay on a mat folded under the Doctor's bed.
Pippinella, of course, returned to her cage which hung on a hook near the window of the wagon; and Dab–Dab, after seeing that everyone was comfortable and that the lights were out, waddled off to a small nest–like bed the Doctor had made out of an empty wooden crate.
'I'm hungry!' wailed Gub–Gub from his place beside the vegetable bin. 'These turnips smell so good it keeps me awake.'
'Sh–sh–sh!' whispered Dab–Dab. 'There'll be no eating here until morning!'
6
The Fortunes of War
'MY captors were evidently in a hurry,' began Pippinella the next evening when the Doctor and his animals had settled themselves to hear the continuation of her story. 'The baggage wagon was pushed over the jolting, cobbly streets on the run. It was growing dark, and I could not see whither I was being carried. The horses had been removed from the shafts and taken somewhere else.
'I think that these men who ran off with the regimental cart must have thought that it contained food. Because when they came to a quiet corner of the street they stopped and felt through the inside of it. I heard them cursing in the dark when their groping hands touched nothing but pots and pans and spare harness. And after they had put me back and hurried on I saw their faces in the glimmer of a street lamp, and the poor fellows looked dreadfully pinched and thin.
'I then supposed that their intention was to sell me and the wagon to get money to buy food with. And I was right. After they had gone a little further we turned into a narrow alley, passed under an archway and came into a big, big hall. It seemed to be some kind of factory workshop and the place was jammed with workers. It was dimly lighted with only a few candles and sputtering torches. The men were gathered in groups, talking in low voices, with their heads together. When my fellows pushed open the doors and entered all the whispering ceased. The crowd turned and glared at us.
'As soon as we were admitted the door was carefully locked and barred. And then I noticed that all the windows were covered with wooden shutters, so that the lights could not be seen from outside. And all of a sudden its dawned on me that I had been brought to the mine, or the big factory alongside of it, and that this was one of the buildings that the general had commanded the Fusiliers to bombard. I began to wonder how long it would be before he would have other troops brought to the town who would not hesitate to fire cannon–balls into crowded factories.
'As soon as the barring of the door had been attended to the men thronged around my little cart and started to claw through it to see what it contained. Suddenly a big man, who seemed to be a leader, ordered them in a rough voice to leave it alone. They fell back, evidently much afraid of him. Something in the man's face struck me as familiar and I began to cudgel my brain to think where I had seen him before. And then in a flash I remembered: it was the same man who had led the workers in their attack on the Marquis's castle.
'He went through the cart himself and told the disappointed crowd that it contained no food.
'"Then let's sell it and buy some,'" cried the man.
'But as it clearly would not bring enough to buy food for all of them, it was finally agreed that lots should be drawn and that the winner should get the cart.
'"And what about the canary?" called on. "Likely a man could get as much for him as for the old truck and all the pans put together."
'"All right," said the leader. "Then draw lots for the bird separate. We'll put two marked papers in the hat—one for the cart and one for the canary. The first winner gets his choice; the second gets what's left, and the rest get nothing."
'"Aye, Aye!" called the crowd. "That's fair enough."
'"Sh!" hissed the leader. "Not so loud! How do we know who's sneaking around outside? I don't trust them bloomin' Fusiliers—even though they did give in so easy. Talk low, talk low!"
'So my next experience as to have a lot of ragged workers draw lots for me. As I saw them crowding around the hat that contained bits of paper I wondered which of them I would fall to. Some of them looked hungry and wild enough to cook me and eat me. The prospects for the future were no pleasing.
'One by one they began picking out their bits of paper. Five, ten, fifteen opened them—and with a grunt of disgust flung them on the floor. It seemed to be taking hours, but of course it was really only minutes.
'At length a cry announced that a lucky ticket had been drawn. The owner brought it, smiling, to the leader and showed a rough cross in pencil on it.
'"Well, that gives you the first choice," said the big man. "Which are you going to take, the cart or the canary?"