All the while they were talking together and motioning. Then they turned like they were giving it up and got into their boat.
“Whoop!” I yelled, “we’ve licked ’em!”
Mark shook his head. “No,” he says. “It’s a—a—s-s-s-stratagem.”
“A what?” says I.
“A s-s-s-s-s—” Mark started in, hissing like the exhaust of an engine.
“Better try some other word,” I told him; and he grinned as good-natured as could be.
“It’s a trick,” he says.
“That’s better. Leave the s’s alone when you’re excited.”
“They’re trying to make us think they’ve quit so they can s-s-s—”
“There you go.”