Jane had protested at first, but the doctor had
looked the hull over, and found that there was nothing
wide enough, nor deep enough, nor sharp enough
to do them harm, and so she was content. Then
again, the boys were both strong for their age, and
looked it, Tod easily passing for a lad of twelve or
fourteen, and Archie for a boy of ten. The one
danger discovered by the doctor lay in its height,
the only way of boarding the stranded craft being
by means of a hand-over-hand climb up the rusty
chains of the bowsprit, a difficult and trousers-tearing
operation. This was obviated by Tod's father, who
made a ladder for the boys out of a pair of old oars,
which the two pirates pulled up after them whenever
an enemy hove in sight. When friends approached
it was let down with more than elaborate ceremony,
the guests being escorted by Archie and welcomed
on board by Tod.
Once Captain Holt's short, sturdy body was
descried in the offing tramping the sand-dunes on
his way to Fogarty's, and a signal flag--part of
Mother Fogarty's flannel petticoat, and blood-red,
as befitted the desperate nature of the craft over
which it floated, was at once set in his honor.
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