The Pirate Captain took off his hat with a big flourishThe Pirate Captain took off his hat with a big flourish
The Pirate Captain took off his hat with a big flourish
The Captain took off his big hat witha great flourish and made a bow right down to the ground, then the second pirate took off his big hat with a great flourish and made a bow right down to the ground, then the third pirate took off his hat, and the fourth and the fifth, until all six had taken off their hats with a flourish and made the most magnificently polite bow any one had ever seen.
"I beg your pardon," said the Captain in a most fierce voice. "I hope we are not disturbing you. I apologize most sincerely—I trust you will excuse us—I really do."
Barty's eyes and mouth opened quite wide. His mouth looked like a very red, round O. "Why?" he gasped out, "how polite you are."
"Thank you extremely," roared the Captain. "We appreciate the compliment. We are not known anywhere but on this particular desert island, but if we were known, we should be known for our politeness. We are the Perfectly Polite Pirates," and his row of pirates made six bows again.
"I—I didn't know pirates wereeverpolite," said Barty.
"They never are," answered the Captain. "They are rude, all but ourselves. We were rude until a few years ago—when we met the Baboo Bajorum, and he would not stand it any longer."
"Who is he?" asked Barty.
The Perfectly Polite Pirate Captain made a splendid bow to Saturday.
"He is a relation of this gentleman," he said, "only he is twenty times as big and twenty times as strong, and if you do anything he does not like he can break you into little pieces and throw you away."
Barty gave Saturday an alarmed look."Have you a relation like that?" he said.
"Chatterdy-chat-chatterdy," Saturday answered, and Barty knew he meant that if he had he was not avery nearrelation.
One thing which puzzled Barty very much was that though the pirates were so polite that they kept bowing all the time they looked as fierce as ever, and when the Captain said such polite things, his voice was so rough and savage that it made you almost jump out of your skin when he began to speak.
"I hope you won't be cross at myspeaking about it," Barty said, "but your voice scarcely sounds polite at all."
"Oh!" said the Captain as fiercely as ever, "I beg five hundred thousand million pardons, but that is nothing but a bad habit we can't get rid of. We spoke like this for such a long time that now we can't make our voices sound polite at all. We take voice lozenges six times a day, but it seems scarcely any use, and we can't help looking fierce and swinging our swords. But we are really as gentle as doves."
"I—I never sh-should have thought it," said Barty, moving back a little, becausethe pirate Captain began to swing his sword that very minute, and it looked rather alarming even if he were as gentle as a dove.
He saw that Barty was startled and stopped himself and made another bow.
"Pray excuse me," he said. "You see what a habit it is."
"What did you come here for?" asked Barty, feeling rather braver.
"To ask you to a tea party—to inquire if we might have the extreme pleasure of your society at a tea party on the ship."
"I never should have thought thateither," said Barty. "We ran away and hid because you looked so frightening."
The Pirate Captain put his sword into its scabbard carefully, and took out his pocket handkerchief to wipe away the tears which came into his eyes.
"That is always the way," he said, looking quite overcome. "That is what happens when you get into bad habits and can't get out of them. We are so fond of having tea parties, but people don't want to come to them. When we feel that we can't live any longer without a tea party, we have to put to shore and chase peoplewith our swords and take them prisoners. Sometimes we have to blindfold them and put chains on them to get them on board, for they always think they are going to be made to walk the plank. They aresosurprised when we take off the chains and give them tea and muffins and strawberry jam."
Barty began to feel quite cheerful. This was a much nicer adventure than he had thought it was going to be. To meet real pirates who were perfectly polite, and to go on board a pirate ship to tea, was really entertaining as well as exciting.
"Will you come?" inquired the Pirate Captain perfectly politely in spite of his savage voice, which Barty was beginning not to mind. "You will do us such an honor. And will this gentleman come?" he bowed to the Good Wolf. "And these two?" he made a bow to Saturday and Blue Crest.
"We will all come," said Barty; "every one of us."
All the six pirates bowed down to the floor of the cave again.
But then the Pirate Captain frowned such an awful frown that Barty began to feel a little frightened again.
"Don't you want us to go?" he inquired. "You look as if something had made you angry."
"Oh! Ibegyour pardon," said the Captain. "You think I am frowning, but I am not. I am really smiling. That is my way of looking pleased. I can't do it the other way. I was so fierce all the years before I became polite that I can't untwist my face, and when I am perfectly delighted I scowl as if I were going to bite people's heads off. It is most inconvenient.Don'tlet it disturb you."
"I will try not to," answered Barty,"but it startles me because I am not used to it."
"Will you come to the ship now?" said the Captain. "Baboo Bajorum is waiting."
That made Barty give another little jump. "Baboo Bajorum," he said; "the one who is strong enough to break people into little bits?"
"He can break them into very little bits," said the Captain. "And he does not always save the pieces. But he never does it if you are polite. He is really very nice indeed."
"I always try to remember to say'please,'" said Barty. "And I believe I should like to see what he is like."
"He will be another adventure," said the Good Wolf.
"Pray, do us the honor to lead the way," said the Pirate Captain, bowing, and he and his men stepped behind Barty and the Good Wolf and Saturday and Blue Crest.
So Barty crept through the passage and the Good Wolf crept after him and Saturday crept after him and Blue Crest hopped after him, and then the six pirates lay down on their stomachs and crept afterthem, and when they all crawled out in a line through the entrance on to the hill, they made such a long row that they reached yards and yards.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Monkeys Swinging
CHAPTER SEVEN
THEY went down to the seashore and all got into the boat. Barty sat at one end and the Good Wolf sat at his feet. Saturday took a seat on Barty's knee and Blue Crest sat on his shoulder. The boat was a pretty white one and the pirates rowed so well that it went up anddown over the waves in a most agreeable manner, rather like a rocking-horse.
When they reached the ship the rest of the pirates crowded to the side to see who had been brought to the tea party.
"How they are all scowling," said Barty to the Captain.
"You must remember what I told you," the Captain said. "Those are smiles. They are really grinning from ear to ear with pleasure because they see you come without being chained and padlocked."
"Ah! I must remember," said Barty,"that when they look cross they are only trying to look perfectly delighted."
Two of the sailors let down a rope ladder. Blue Crest flew up it and Saturday ran up it in a minute. The pirates in the boat held it steady and the pirate Captain carried Barty up on his back. The Good Wolf looked serious for a second or so and then began to walk up as calmly as if he had used rope ladders all his life.
When Barty was once on board every pirate on the ship began to wave his hat and cheer. A few of them took out theirswords and began to flourish them and then seemed suddenly to remember that sword waving might not seem polite, and very quickly put them back into their scabbards.
Barty looked all around him. The deck was very big and clean and the cannons were polished until the brass they were made of shone like gold. At one end there was a gay blue and white awning spread, and under it was a table which looked as if it were piled with the kind of good things you have at a tea party.
"Where is Baboo Bajorum?" askedBarty, because he was really very curious.
"If you will have the extreme goodness to please be so kind as to do me the honor to step this way I will show you," said the pirate Captain. So they went in a procession, the pirate Captain leading the way with his hat in his hand, Barty following, the Good Wolf following Barty, Saturday following the Good Wolf, Blue Crest hopping after Saturday, and the six pirates in a line behind them. The pirates made bows all the time and Barty took off his hat for politeness.
When they reached the awning a verybig black person, who looked as if he were Saturday who had suddenly grown immense, rose from a chair and made a low bow. He was covered with shaggy hair and had strong long arms and strong long hands. "He is a Gorilla," said the Good Wolf in a low voice to Barty, "but I know him quite well, and though you would not think it, he has a delightful disposition."
At all events he knew how to manage pirates and make them give a beautiful tea party. Barty and the Good Wolf and Saturday and Blue Crest were all given comfortable seats under the blue and whiteawning, and the Captain and six pirates handed them things faster than they could eat. Blue Crest had a muffin with strawberry jam on it, and she perched on the end of her plate and pecked away in perfect delight. Saturday had sugared walnuts which he had never tasted before and which filled him with glee. Barty and the Good Wolf had everything you could imagine, only the Good Wolf did not care for tea.
Baboo Bajorum did not talk except to make a remark now and then to Saturday, who understood his language. The piratesseemed to understand him without any words. He just sat and watched them and they watched him to see if he were pleased with what they were doing. Once a pirate who was greedy stole a piece of cake before he handed the plate to Barty, and Baboo Bajorum stretched out his enormously long hairy arm and seized him by the seat of his trousers and threw him over the rail into the sea. The pirate could swim very well and in a few minutes came clambering over the side of the ship again, but he looked very wet and ashamed and sneaked down into the hold as if heknew better than to come back to the party.
"That is the way he teaches us," said the Captain to Barty, eagerly handing him a currant bun with one of his best bows. "It is a way that makes you improve very quickly. He never argues. If he hits you or throws you overboard you know you have made some mistake and you make haste to find out what it is."
"I dare say that does teach people quickly," answered Barty, "but I should not like it."
He glanced rather anxiously at BabooBajorum, but Baboo was looking at him with quite a nice expression. Barty thought it must be a Gorilla smile, and as he of course wished to be polite he got up and made a low bow. Then Baboo Bajorum got up and made a low bow also, and all the pirates made bows and the Good Wolf made a bow and Saturday made one and Blue Crest bobbled her head up and down most gracefully.
"He likes you," the Good Wolf said to Barty in a whisper; "he sees you are polite by nature. I saw it myself that firstmorning when we met at the edge of the deep forest."
Barty's forehead wrinkled itself up in a puzzled way. "The morning we met on the edge of the deep forest," he said. "Now you have made me begin to think of that thing I can't remember. What is it, what is it, what is it?"
"Never mind," said the Good Wolf; "you will find out in time. Just now you must enjoy your adventures."
"Yes, I must," said Barty. "They are such splendid adventures. Just think, here I am on a pirate ship, havingtea with pirates. What will come next?"
What came next was very interesting, but it was the thing that came next but one which was thrilling.
After tea was over Baboo Bajorum made a sign to the pirate Captain and he got up and bowed more deeply than ever and began to tell his story.
"This," he said, "is the story of how we were made into Polite Pirates. When first we were pirates we were a disgrace to the name. We chased ships and made them prisoners. We robbed them of theirtreasures and burned them and sank them in the sea. We made people walk the plank or chopped their heads off. Nobody would associate with us and we were never invited anywhere. I think I might even say that we were disliked. One day we dropped anchor near a small island in the Indian Ocean. We were very hot and tired because the sun was blazing and the sea was like a burning-glass and we had been having a busy day. We had chased a merchant vessel loaded with a rich cargo of gold and splendid stuff and ivory, and when we had caught it we had behaved inour usual rude and inconsiderate way. We had sliced any number of heads off, and after we had carried the rich cargo to our own ship we had blown up the merchant ship without a word of apology. We were so hot and tired when we dropped anchor near the little island that we all lay down in our hammocks and fell into a deep sleep.
"Just before I went down to my cabin one of the other pirates asked me to come with him to the side of the ship and look at something he had been noticing on the island.
"'Do you see those big creatures dodging in and out among the trees?' he said. 'Are they savages, or what are they?'
"I took my spy-glass and looked and saw that there really were some big creatures moving about among the cocoanut palm trees. They seemed to be peeping at us but trying to keep out of our sight and I could not see them plainly at all.
"'They look like savages dressed in skins of wild beasts,' I said; 'but they cannot do us any harm so long as we are on the sea and they are on the land. We will go to our cabins and sleep andleave one of the little cabin boys to watch.'
"So we went downstairs and left a little pirate whose name was Reginal Cyrel Adolphin Seymour to watch. He was a little boy who had run away from school to be a pirate, and very often he had been heard to remark that now he really was a pirate he would rather learn the multiplication table. He was as hot and tired as any of us that day, and whathedid was to fall asleep the minute the rest of us had gone to lie down." The pirate Captain stopped and cleared his throatand mopped his forehead with his red handkerchief.
"What happened then?" asked Barty. He saw Baboo Bajorum leaning forward with his big hairy hands on his knees and listening attentively. The pirate Captain began again:
"The sun got hotter and hotter and we slept and slept and slept. You know how heavily one sleeps on a hot day and how hard it is to get awake when you try. We did not try, but suddenly we all wakened at once. We were wakened by a great roaring which we thought was a suddenstorm. But it was not a storm. It was a Baboo Bajorum sound, which you have never heard and which I hope you will never hear. It is louder than lions and fiercer than tigers and more piercing than panthers and leopards. Baboo Bajorums never make it unless they are very angry indeed, and when you hear it you had better look out."
"Are there more Baboo Bajorums than one?" Barty asked. "I thought this gentleman was the only one in the world."
The pirate Captain opened his mouthvery wide and drew a long breath. Then he said in a solemn voice:
"When we waked up there were forty-two Baboo Bajorums on our ship and one was sitting by each man's hammock and roaring the angry roar."
"Ah," said Barty, "how frightening!" and he felt quite alarmed.
"It was frightening," replied the pirate Captain, "but we deserved it—for our unpoliteness. We had disturbed the Captain of the merchant ship at his dinner when we cut his head off, and we had disturbed the whole crew when we blew the ship up.Books about politeness always say that you must have quiet and unassuming manners. We deserved all that happened. We had been loud and assuming."
"Whatdidhappen?" inquired Barty, and the Good Wolf leaned forward to listen, and Saturday leaned forward and Blue Crest nearly tilted over with eagerness.
"When they stopped roaring they took us all prisoners. They had swum over from the little island and climbed up the ship's side as soon as they were sure we were asleep. This gentleman," andhe made a bow to Baboo Bajorum, "is the Great Baboo of all. He made me get out of my hammock and fastened a chain round my waist so that he could lead me about. The other Baboos did the same with the other pirates. The first place he led me to was to a black corner down in the hold. I had taken captive a sick old gentleman on the merchant ship and I had loaded him with chains and put him down in the darkest corner of the bottom of the ship. I was going to try and make him sign a paper to give me the money he had left on land. Baboo Bajorum made metake the chains off him and take him on deck and wait on him and make bows to him until my back was almost broken."
"He must have been very glad," said Barty, quite relieved.
"He was gladder than I was," said the pirate Captain. "It was through him that we found out what the Baboo Bajorum really intended to teach us. We were so frightened that we could not understand their signs, and as they always knocked us down or threw us overboard when we did not obey at once, we should very soon have been black and blue all over. Thesea was very full of sharks near the island and when you were thrown overboard you never knew whether you would get back or not."
"That was dangerous enough to make any one polite," said Barty.
"But," said the Captain, "we did not know it was politeness they wanted until we brought the old gentleman out of the hold. He was very polite himself and made the most beautiful bows to all the Baboos. They had never seen bows before and they were very much pleased and began to practice bowing themselves.When the old gentleman was bowing a book fell out of his pocket. The Great Baboo kicked me until I picked it up. This is it. I never go anywhere without it." He took a book from his pocket and handed it to Barty, who opened it.
"'A Guide to Perfect Politeness, With Rules for Entertaining Royal Families, the Nobility and Gentry.' That is the name of it," said Barty. "Are there any adventures in it?"
"Not exactly adventures," said the pirate Captain. "It tells you how to converse brilliantly and how to fill up awkwardpauses and how to begin a letter to a duke when you are writing to one, besides about never eating with your knife and always saying 'please' and 'I thank you' and 'pray excuse me' and 'I beg your pardon.'"
"Ah, I see!" said Barty. "That's why you said all those things in the cave."
"It was indeed," answered the pirate Captain. "The moment the Great Baboo saw the book he went and sat by the old gentleman and made signs to him to read aloud. The old gentleman read to him. In half an hour from that time I waschained to the mast and all the other pirates were chained on the deck round me and I was reading to them out of the 'Guide to Perfect Politeness.' The Great Baboo had thrown me into the sea in a very sharky place until I understood what he wanted. We all knew all the book by heart before breakfast next morning, and since then we have never broken a single rule. That was three years ago. The other Baboo Bajorums went back to their island in six months, but the Great Baboo has always sailed with us."
"It is another pirate vessel and it is going to attack us.""It is another pirate vessel and it is going to attack us."
"It is another pirate vessel and it is going to attack us."
At that moment Barty heard the soundof many feet running on the deck and the shouting of many voices, as if something new and alarming was happening. The pirate sailors were all running about. Some came tumbling up the companion-way and some went screaming up the rigging and some went running to the side to look over the sea.
The pirate Captain stopped and clapped his spy-glass to his eye.
"Hello!" he said. "I beg your pardon, excuse me for disturbing you by mentioning it, but there is a large ship bearing down on us at full sail. It isanother pirate vessel and is going to attack us."
Barty jumped up and threw his cap in the air. "Hooray! Hooray! Hooray!" he said. "There's going to be a pirate battle and I'm certain we shall win."
CHAPTER EIGHT
Pirate Feast
CHAPTER EIGHT
THE other pirate ship looked very big and grand. All its sails were filled with wind and it came cutting through the waves so fast that it looked as if it were alive. Barty stood and watched it and Saturday came and took hold of his hand. Everybody on the polite pirates'ship was running about, dragging guns into place or pulling ropes or sharpening swords. There was a great clatter and noise and shouting of "I beg your pardon," or "pray excuse me," or "may I ask you to be so kind," when the pirates fell over each other, or got in each other's way, or wanted to be helped to lift or drag something. Blue Crest prudently went and hid in a coil of rope and Good Wolf walked up and down the deck and examined things. Baboo Bajorum walked up and down, too, with his big hands in his pockets. Suddenly there came a white puff of smokefrom the chasing ship and a big "boom," and Barty and Saturday both jumped at the same time because they knew the cannon had begun to fire.
The pirate captain shouted and waved his sword and then a puff of white smoke and a big "boom" came from the side of his ship, and Barty knew they had fired back.
Then everything became so exciting that you could scarcely stand it.
As soon as the boom and puff of white smoke was sent from the polite pirates' ship, a boom and a puff of white smoke came from the impolite pirates' ship, andas soon as a boom came from the impolite pirates' ship, a boom answered back from the polite pirates' ship.
It was like this:
"Boom!" from the impolite pirates.
"Boom——boom!" from the polite pirates.
"Boom!" from the impolite pirates.
"Boom, boom, boom!" from the polite pirates.
"Let us go and sit behind that big coil of rope and watch," said the Good Wolf.
It was the coil of rope Blue Crest had hidden herself inside, and when Barty and the Good Wolf and Saturday sat on thefloor of the deck behind it, she was so glad that she whistled Barty's little song to let him know that she was quite near him. But Barty could scarcely hear her because there was so much noise. Pirates were shouting, gunners were ramming cannon balls into cannons, and the polite pirate captain was yelling polite orders to his men. Barty was obliged to shout himself, just as he had been obliged to shout in the tropical storm.
"Do you think we shall win?" he called out, as loud as he could, to the Good Wolf.
"We have the best guns," the Good Wolfcalled back. "The polite pirates have taken good care of their guns instead of quarreling about who should clean them. Listen!"
"Boom! Boom!" came from the impolite pirates' ship.
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Bang! Crash!" answered the polite pirates' ship.
The crash was the splitting and tearing open of the side of the other ship. Barty jumped up at the sound of it.
"We've hit them! We've hit them!" he shouted.
"We have the best gunners!" called out the Good Wolf.
"Boom!" said the impolite pirates' ship.
"Boom! Bang! Crash! Bang! Bang! Boom!" said the polite pirates.
Barty could not help jumping up and down, and Saturday simply stood on his head for joy and waved his little black legs in the air. Then came another roar and crash and bang, and the polite pirates raised a great loud cheer of victory and threw their hats in the air. The impolite pirates' ship was rapidly filling with water, and toppling over on one side.
"We've won! We've won!" cried Barty,dancing. "Look at the pirates running to launch their life-boats."
The impolite pirates were indeed running and skurrying about like mad things. They had left their guns altogether. The sea was pouring in at the big holes in the side of their ship and the ship was tilting more and more every second.
"If they don't get into the boats in a few minutes, their ship will turn over and they will be drowned," said the Good Wolf.
"They are the quickest pirates I ever saw," said Barty—"though, of course, I haven't seen many."
"We've won! We've won!""We've won! We've won!" cried Barty, dancing
"We've won! We've won!" cried Barty, dancing
Theywerequick. They skurried and scuffled and darted. They undid knots and loosened ropes like lightning, and in two minutes their life boats swung out and they scrambled into them and were dropped down into the water.
"If Baboo Bajorum was to fire a broadside into them now," said the Good Wolf, "he would blow them and their boats into smithereens."
"Oh, I should not like him to do that," said Barty. "I'll go and ask him not to do it."
He ran to the end of the ship whereBaboo Bajorum was standing watching the other ship sinking, and he took off his hat and made his deepest and politest bow.
"I beg your pardon," he said, "excuse me for interrupting. I know it is not polite but would you be so kind as to do me the great favor ofnotblowing the Impolite Pirates into smithereens. If they hadn't come I should never have seen a pirate battle on the high seas and I always wanted to see one."
And he made another bow which was really a most beautiful one.
Baboo Bajorum listened to him with the greatest politeness. He made a bow each time Barty made one. In fact Barty thought he looked like a very nice gorilla indeed. He did something with his face that looked rather like smiling and then he put out his big hairy hand and patted Barty's head.
"Thank you, Mr. Bajorum," Barty said, feeling much relieved. "It's very kind of you, because, of course, they have given you a good deal of trouble."
Then he went back to the Good Wolf. He was rather hot and out of breath withexcitement and he fanned himself with his hat.
"Even Robinson Crusoe never went to a pirate's battle," he said. "This is the biggest adventure of all. Let's go and look over the side and see what the other pirates are doing."
Evidently Baboo Bajorum had given his gunners orders to stop firing, because they had left their cannons and with the rest of the crew had run to the side and were leaning over watching their conquered enemies just as Barty wanted to do. The Impolite Pirates, all black withsmoke and powder, were looking very much frightened. They had got into their boats and were rowing away from their sinking ship, but they plainly did not know which way to go, because they realized that if Baboo Bajorum began to fire his cannons at them he would blow them to smithereens. In fact, they could not understand why he did not blow them to smithereens immediately, and it made them feel very nervous. Of course they had not the least idea that Barty and the Good Wolf were on board, or perhaps they would have known that Barty was the kindof little boy who would not like to see pieces of pirates flying about in the air, even though he had felt that a pirates' battle was a sort of accommodation to him.
Their ship tilted more and more and at last sank down and down into the water, until it was out of sight. The cannon balls had smashed such big holes in it that the sea filled it directly. And the Impolite Pirates bent over their oars and rowed and looked back over their shoulders at Baboo Bajorum's ship in a frightened manner. They were saying to each other, "What is he going to do next?"
You see the trouble was, that however fast they rowed, they could not get away because Baboo Bajorum's ship was quietly sailing after them and they were so tired with fighting that they could scarcely row at all.
"And where do they think they are going to row to?" said the Polite Pirate captain. "They have neither food nor water in their boats and of course they are afraid to row towards the Desert Island, because we can stop them. They will simply perish if they row out on the high seas."
"Perish," said Barty.
He had once read a story about shipwrecked sailors perishing on the high seas, and it had made him cry. "I don't believe I want them to perish. I should not like to perish myself and neither would you. Now, would you?"
"No," answered the captain, "I should not. Nobody would. Perishing is about as unpleasant a thing as could happen to any man."
"I will go," said Barty, determinedly, "and speak to Mr. Bajorum."
So he ran to Baboo Bajorum, and aftersaluting in the usual manner he made three bows, one after the other.
"I hope I am not intruding and that you will please to be so kind as to excuse me for troubling you, Mr. Bajorum," he said, "but might I ask you another very great favor. The Impolite Pirates are very frightened, and they were in such a hurry that they had not time to put any food or water in their boats, and if they try to row out to sea they will perish. Do you think, sir, if you forgave them and let them come on board and you took a good deal of pains with them you might improvethem into Polite Pirates, just as you did the others. You see, it would make your crew much bigger, and it might be much wiser for everybody when you were all intimate friends. Do you think you could oblige me by doing it?—excuse the liberty I am taking."
Mr. Baboo Bajorum listened as attentively as he had done before, and almost as soon as he began to speak Barty saw him do that thing with his face which made him look as if he were smiling, and even before Barty had finished he put out his big hairy hand and patted him again on the head.
"Thank you very kindly, Mr. Bajorum," said Barty. "I am extremely obliged and grateful and—and 'preciative. Could you call them back now? They are very tired, but they are rowing as fast as they can."
He forgot that Baboo Bajorum did not speak in the ordinary way and so could not call out "Come back, I won't hurt you."
Perhaps Baboo Bajorum forgot, too. He leaned over the side and waved his long, huge, hairy arm and gave a kind of awful roar. The pirates did not understand him at all and were so frightenedthat several of them tumbled backwards off their seats, and one or two of them dropped their oars and tried to hide themselves in the bottom of their boats.
"They are so frightened they can't understand," said Barty. "Would you mind lifting me up and letting me stand on the side and wave my handkerchief at them?—if it won't inconvenience you, please."
Baboo Bajorum lifted him up in a minute. His long arms were so strong that he lifted him as easily as if he were a pin. Barty stood on the rail and took out his pocket handkerchief and wavedand waved it, and then he made a trumpet of his hands and shouted as loud as ever he could.
"Come back! Come back! We won't hurt you. Come back! Come back!"
A nice, fat, curly-headed little boy, standing on a ship's side, waving a white handkerchief and shouting in a loud and friendly manner, is a very different thing from a Baboo Bajorum shaking a long, black, hairy arm and roaring, so the Impolite Pirates stopped rowing and began to listen. The captain leaned over and put his hand behind his ear. Then he gave orders tohis sailors and they began to row cautiously towards the ship.
"What did you say?" he shouted.
"Come back," Barty shouted in answer. "Mr. Bajorum will not let anyone hurt you. This," waving his hand towards the Baboo to introduce him, "is Mr. Bajorum."
The Impolite Pirates were so astonished that their faces dropped and they sat with their mouths wide open. Then they took off their hats and mopped their foreheads with their red bandanna handkerchiefs. Then they took up their oars and began to row towards the ship.
They were in five boats, and they all stopped in a line by the ship's side and looked up at the row of Polite Pirates who were looking down. They were so amazed that their mouths were still wide open, and when the Impolite Pirate captain spoke he stammered.
"D-d-did you s-s-say we m-might c-c-come on b-b-b-board?" he said. And when all the Polite Pirates bowed at once and the Captain answered him he was so overcome that he fainted quite away into the bottom of his boat. Because this was what the Captain said:
"If you will do us the honor and the kindness and will be so good as to oblige us, we shall be more delighted than we have words to express."
Then they let down a rope ladder and a bottle of smelling salts and some eau de cologne to restore the Impolite Captain, and by the time he was restored and assisted up the rope ladder all the Polite Pirates were standing lined up on deck ready to receive him and his crew with low sweeping bows. Barty and the Good Wolf came forward together and Barty explained.
"They are like this," he said, "because they are polite pirates, and in time they are going to teach you to be polite too. It is really very much nicer."
Just at first they almost gibbered because they did not know what to say, but when they were taken below and allowed to wash the smoke and powder off their faces and hands, and then were given cups of tea and muffins and raspberry jam, and then were shown all over the beautiful ship, they could not help but begin to be calm. But because they had never seen anything like Baboo Bajorum and his crew before,they could not help staring, and they could not all keep their mouths shut at the same time. The bows and politeness quite made them jump sometimes, but it was plain they began to admire them, because it was not long before they began to try to remember to make bows themselves.
At last they were all sitting peacefully together on the deck, and the sun had gone down and the moon had risen. The ship had sailed back to the Desert Island again and was lying at anchor in the beautiful blue water, which was making a soft lap-lap-lapping sound against its side.Barty looked out at the green slope which led up the cliff to the cave, and suddenly he remembered how he had slept on the bed of leaves last night and how comfortable it had been, and he remembered, too, that the Polite Pirates had only invited him to tea. So he got up from his chair and went to Baboo Bajorum and bowed—this time he did it more beautifully than ever, and he did it six times.
"I am ever so much obliged to you, Mr. Bajorum," he said. "I enjoyed the battle so much and thank you for inviting me to the tea party. I have enjoyed myselfso much that I am rather sleepy. Would you be so kind as to oblige us by letting us get into the boat and go back to the cave to bed?"
Baboo Bajorum patted him again and shook hands with him and was most polite. In fact, everybody was so polite and made so many bows—even the Impolite Pirates—that it took some time to get the boat launched. But at last it was on the water and everybody got safely down the ladder, and the Polite Pirates took their seats and began to row towards the shore and those who stayed on the ship raised a delightful cheer.
Barty sat close to the Good Wolf and laid his head against his furry neck. The sky looked dark blue and the water looked dark blue and the stars in the sky looked as if they were shining in the water, and Barty was so happy and drowsy that he could scarcely tell which was sea and which was sky.
When they reached the white beach the Polite Pirate Captain picked Barty up in his arms and carried him up the queer slope, and instead of crawling through the hole he carried him round the ledge and lifted him in through the window.
The moon was shining in on the sparkling white sand of the cave floor and it shone in on the soft, heaped up bed of leaves which looked delightful. Barty stood in the moonlight and rubbed his eyes.
"Thank you," he said to the Polite Pirate Captain. "There never was anything like you in Robinson Crusoe."
"Who was Robinson Crusoe?" asked the Captain, leaning on the window ledge.
"He was in a book," answered Barty. "It was a very nice book, but this is nicer," and he rubbed his eyes harder than ever.
Just then the Good Wolf came in throughthe passage. Blue Crest was on his back and Man Saturday came after.
The Polite Pirate Captain took his hat off with a grand flourish.
"Good-night," he said. "A thousand thanks for a most delightful and perfectly charming afternoon. Good-night." And he turned round and ran round the ledge and down the green slope.
"And just think how frightened we were," Barty said drowsily, as he crept onto the softest part of his leaf bed. "I never thought pirates could be so nice."
The Good Wolf made a jump andcurled up beside him snugly. Saturday curled up and was asleep in two minutes, and Blue Crest was asleep in one. And the moon shone in at the cave window and the sound of the waves on the beach was a soft murmur.
"Did I hear you say that this was nicer than Robinson Crusoe?" asked the Good Wolf, just as Barty's eyes were closing.
"It is—nicer," answered Barty, drowsily. "But—I can't help thinking of that thing—I can't remember. What—is—it?"
"In the morning I will tell you," saidthe Good Wolf. And that very minute Barty's eyes shut and he could not see the white moonlight any longer because he was fast asleep.