finished, we were waiting for the fried fish, when our friend, who also
appeared thoughtful, took Fly's hand and said: 'My dear comrades, I have
a very grave communication to make to you, and one that may, perhaps,
give rise to a prolonged discussion, but we shall have to argue between
the courses. Poor Fly has announced a piece of disastrous news to me,
and at the same time has asked me to tell it to you: She is pregnant,
and I will only add two words. This is not the moment to abandon her,
and it is forbidden to try and find out who is the father.'[2]

[Footnote 2: _La recherche de la paternité est interdite._ A celebrated
clause in the Code Napoleon, whereby a man cannot be made chargeable for
a bastard.--TRANSLATOR.]

"At first we were stupefied, and felt as if some disaster had befallen
us, and we looked at each other with the longing to accuse some one, but
whom? Oh! Which of us? I have never felt as I did at that moment, the
perfidy of that cruel joke of nature, which never allows a man to know
for certainty whether he is the father of his child. Then, however, by
degrees a sort of feeling of consolation came over us and gave us
comfort, which sprung from a confused idea of joint responsibility.

"Tomahawk, who spoke but little, formulated a beginning of reassurance by
these words: 'Well, so much the worse, by Jove: _Union is Strength_,
however.' At that moment a scullion brought in the fried gudgeons, but
they did not fall to on them like they generally did, for they all had
the same trouble on their mind, and Only-One-Eye continued: 'Under these
circumstances she has had the delicacy to confess everything to me. My
friends, we are all equally guilty, so let us shake hands and adopt the
child.'