He was, therefore, allowed to remain in the cave with the women, and Sir
Robert and his crew, long before Smallbones' garments were dry, were
again crossing the English Channel.
Now, it must be observed, that Smallbones was never well off for
clothes, and, on this occasion, when he fell overboard, he had nothing
on but an old pair of thin linen trousers and a shirt which, from dint
of long washing, from check had turned to a light cerulean blue: what
with his struggles at the net and the force used to pull him into the
boat, the shirt had more than one-half disappeared--that is to say, one
sleeve and the back were wholly gone, and the other sleeve was well
prepared to follow its fellow, on the first capful of wind. His trousers
also were in almost as bad a state. In hauling him in, when his head was
over the gunnel, one of the men had seized him by the seat of his
trousers to lift him into the boat, and the consequence was, that the
seat of his trousers having been too long set upon, was also left in his
muscular gripe. All these items put together, the reader may infer,
that, although Smallbones might appear merely ragged in front, that in
his rear he could not be considered as decent, especially as he was the
only one of the masculine sex among a body of females.
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