The Pirate Captain took off his hat with a big flourish
The Captain took off his big hat with a 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 were ever polite," 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."