"One of the joys of a life 'on der rollings deeps'!" grumbled Tom, imitating Hans. "Songbird, can't you compose an ode in honor of the occasion?"
"Certainly I can," said Songbird promptly, and started:
"As firm as a rock, our launch now rests
Upon her bed of mud,
As safe as a ship on a golden sea—"
"Or a clothespin in a tub!" finished Tom. "Songbird, give us something better, or none at all."
"Say, vot has a clothesbin in a dub to do mit being stuck here alretty?" questioned Hans, innocently.
"Why, Hansy, old boy, that's easy," cried Tom. "A clothespin is for sticking something fast, and we are stuck fast. Now, can't you see the joke, as the blind astronomer said to the deaf musician?"
"Yah, dot's so, but ve ain't stuck on no clothes-pins," answered
Hans, soberly. "Ve vos stuck on der Mississippies Rifer, ain't it."
"Score one for Hans," came, with a laugh, from Sam. "Hans, what do you think we ought to do?"
"Dake a rope py der shore und bull der poat loose."
"That's the talk," said Songbird. "Hans can carry the rope ashore.
The water is only a foot deep."