“Oh, yes! you will be a pirate too, won’t you, Charlie?” said Rose, clapping her hands.
“Pirates!” cried Charlie. “That sounds fine. I’ll be Bulldog Bill.”
“Hurrah!” cheered Kenneth. “We are to have swords and masks, Charlie, and capture a treasure and live in a cave.”
“But we haven’t chosen a captain yet,” said Rose. “Kenneth and Tom both want to be captain, and we nearly quarreled about it before you came.”
The children suddenly looked very much ashamed. “I don’t want to be captain, Tom,” said Kenneth. “You’ll do it better. Here, you can have my sword.”
“No,” said Tom, “I won’t take it. You be captain. You know all about the game and I don’t.”
Then Mary Prout had a great idea. “You be pirate chief,” she said, turning to Charlie. “That will settle the trouble.”
“Oh, yes, that is a good idea!” cried Rose. “We will all do as you say, Charlie.”
“Oh, I have just come,” said Charlie. “I don’t want to be chief the very first thing.”
“I’ll agree,” said Kenneth. “What do you say, Tom?”