原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
照他的模樣 He Copied The Pattern Exactly
行者只見他那般打扮，那般報事，遂照他的模樣變了；因不曾看見他的牌兒，所以身上沒有。行者只见他那般打扮，那般报事，遂照他的模样变了；因不曾看见他的牌儿，所以身上没有。
逐句解 Line by line
行者只見他那般打扮，那般報事，遂照他的模樣變了；
行者只见他那般打扮，那般报事，遂照他的模样变了；
Pilgrim had only seen how the other was got up and how he did his reporting, and had changed himself to match that pattern;
模樣 is appearance or pattern, and 模 takes mú in it — nothing in the authoring machinery demands that value, so it has to be supplied by hand every time the word appears. 那般打扮 and 那般報事 are the two things he could observe from a treetop: how the man looked and how he worked.
因不曾看見他的牌兒，所以身上沒有。
因不曾看见他的牌儿，所以身上没有。
and because he had not seen the tally, he had none on him.
Fifteen characters of plain narration, and they are the hinge of the whole scene. The disguise is perfect in every particular Pilgrim could see, and the one thing that matters was under the man's clothes.
The novel explains the flaw before the flaw is exposed, which is a deliberate choice. We are not asked to wonder whether Pilgrim will be caught; we are asked to watch him get out of it.
The reason for the gap is precise and fair. He copied what could be seen from a distance — clothes, banner, bell, the manner of the reporting — and the badge was worn against the skin.
It is also a comment on how the impersonation was done. Pilgrim works from observation, and observation cannot reach what an institution keeps under a shirt.