When Ballyhoo noticed the tender way in which the skipper caressed his cheek as he made this remark, he had an illuminating thought. Afterwards when he and his two comrades found themselves alone, Ballyhoo spoke of this fact.
“I wouldn’t be a bit surprised, fellows,” he said, in a low tone, “if that scar Captain Shooks carries on his left cheek had something to do with this same tough old adventurer, Josephus Badger. My opinion is they’ve had a scrap at some time or other, and our skipper bears the marks of his rival’s knife to this day. It must have been a pretty lively affair, I guess.”
“Some of these fine days,” Oscar mused, “those old war-dogs are going to come to grips again, and wind up this feud. They seem to hate each other like those two cats of Kilkenny, each of which thought there was one cat too many; so they fought and they bit, they scratched and they fit, till, save the ends of their nails and the tips of their tails of those two cats of Kilkenny, there wasn’t any. I don’t know whether I’ve got it just right, but that’s the idea.”
“Where do you suppose we’re going to head for next?” inquired Ballyhoo.
“Well, there are several other likely spots around the Caribbean that it might pay us to visit,” replied Oscar, to whom the question had really been put.
“But how about that one over there in the Pacific, down off the coast of Peru?” the Jones boy wanted to know. “From what the skipper said, I should think that’d be our best call.”
“He didn’t tell me positively,” continued the other, “but from certain things I heard him saying later on I more than half believe we’ll head that way now.”
“Meaning the canal, Oscar?” chirped Ballyhoo, eagerly, his eyes betraying the tremendous interest he felt in the subject.
“Yes. It happens to be open now, after that last landslide that kept it closed ever so long; so we can get through without much trouble.”
“Course the mere fact that this is a submarine vessel needn’t prevent us from a passage through?” asked Ballyhoo.