“Pooh! not he,” said the doctor. “The lads have been challenging him, I suppose.”
“I think that’s it, but he has gone to get a cocoa-nut for me.”
“You did not send him to do it, Jack?”
“No, father: he came and proposed it.”
“Tree’s getting gradually thinner,” said the doctor. “Easier to climb.”
“I hope he will be successful,” said Sir John. “The men will banter him so if he fails.”
“How the tree begins to bend!” said Jack anxiously. “Why don’t you shake it?” he cried, without considering that his words could not be heard. But, oddly enough, just at that moment the idea seemed to have occurred to Ned, who held on with his legs and shook the tree violently.
“You will not do it like that, my fine fellow,” said the captain, coming up; “and lucky for you that you can’t. A crack from one of those nuts would be no joke.”
“Yes, they must be pretty heavy,” said Sir John.
“Heavy enough to kill any one if they fell upon his bare head.”