"Ay, ay, sir!" cried the henchman with a hoist
of his knee-pants, as a prelude to his announcement.
"Ay, ay, yerself!" rumbled back the reply.
"What's up?" The commodore had not read as
deeply in pirate lore as had Archie, and was not,
therefore, so ready with its lingo.
"Band of savages, sir, approaching down the
beach."
"Where away?" thundered back the commodore,
his authority now asserting itself in the tones of
his voice.
"On the starboard bow, sir--six or seven of 'em."
"Armed or peaceable?"
"Armed, sir. Scootsy Mulligan is leadin' 'em."
"Scootsy Mulligan! Crickety! he's come to make
trouble," shouted back Tod, climbing the ladder in
a hurry--it was used as a means of descent into the
shallow hold when not needed outside. "Where are
they? Oh, yes! I see 'em--lot of 'em, ain't they?
Saturday, and they ain't no school. Say, Arch, what
are we goin' to do?" The terminal vowels softening
his henchman's name were omitted in grave situations;
so was the pirate lingo.
"Do!" retorted Archie, his eyes snapping.
"Why, we'll fight 'em; that's what we are pirates
for. Fight 'em to the death. Hurray! They're not
coming aboard--no sir-ee! You go down, Toddy
[the same free use of terminals], and get two of the
biggest bean-poles and I'll run up the death flag.
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