In spite of all the despatch he could make, it was late before
he arrived at the garrison, where he delivered the letter and the
lady to the lieutenant, who no sooner understood the intention of
his friend, than he ordered all the tubs in the house to be carried
into the hall, and filled with water. Tom having provided himself
with swabs and brushes, divested the fair stranger of her variegated
drapery, which was immediately committed to the flames, and performed
upon her soft and sleek person the ceremony of scrubbing, as it
is practised on board of the king's ships of war. Yet the nymph
herself did not submit to this purification without repining.
She cursed the director, who was upon the spot, with many abusive
allusions to his wooden leg; and as for Pipes the operator, she
employed her talons so effectually upon his face, that the blood
ran over his nose in sundry streams; and next morning, when those
rivulets were dry, his countenance resembled the rough bark of a
plum-tree, plastered with gum. Nevertheless, he did his duty with
great perseverance, cut off her hair close to the scalp, handled
his brushes with dexterity, applied his swabs of different magnitude
and texture, as the case required; and, lastly, rinsed the whole
body with a dozen pails of cold water, discharged upon her head.
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