Page:Ossendowski - From President to Prison.djvu/177

Rh "Where was it? Is that what you want to know?" one of the laundresses again laughed.

"Yes, if that is the way you prefer to put it."

"Someone threw a bag over the hedge," she began to explain.

"That much I know; but what then?" the soldier queried impatiently.

"If you know, then why do you ask?" the woman answered, and, pushing up her sleeves, began scrubbing again.

"Answer! I am all ears," the soldier replied, racked with doubt.

"Then I tell you that someone flung the bag over the hedge," continued one of the women, who had hair as red as a flame and was equally bold and care-free. "And it landed in the tub." Then they both began laughing again very loudly.

"In the tub?" the soldier repeated, carefully examining it, in spite of the fact that it was evident at a glance that there was nothing more than a few garments soaking there.

"Yes, in the tub!" reiterated this red-haired jester.

"And now—now it is not there," the soldier mumbled, pressing his head with his hands.

"No, it is not there!"

"Why?" cried the soldier in desperation.

"It said it had no time to wait for you, you birch log! It flew away."

The loud guffaw of the crowd smothered the laughter of the women and the curses of the soldier. However, just at this moment a policeman turned up on the scene and, stepping up to the laundry women, spoke severely:

"You say it flew away? With whom? Answer me quick!"