"Come on, Dot," he said, glancing back at the little girl. "There's a ship and I guess there isn't anybody aboard. Anyhow, if there is, we'll fight our way over the bulwarks, kill half the crew, and make the others walk the plank. That is what pirates would do."
"Oo-ee!" squealed Dot—and she dropped the basket of fruit.
"Aw, say!" growled Sammy. "What kind of a pirate will you make? Of course we have to do what all pirates do."
But it was not anything to do with the true business of pirating that had brought forth that squeal from Dot Kenway. Just as she had been about to touch that peach again with her pink finger, where the sweet juice was oozing out, a great ugly, yellow wasp came along and lit right on that juicy spot!
"Oo-ee!" squealed Dot again. Sammy valiantly came to the rescue, and beat away the "stinger" with his cap. But he carried the fruit himself, as well as the bag of other provisions, the rest of the way to the canalboat.
"Can't trust you with it, Dot," he declared. "You'd have the things all mush if you dropped them every time you saw a bee."
"I don't like bees," declared his little comrade.
"And you was one yourself, once," grinned Sammy. "In that show, you know."
"Oh, but I didn't sting anybody," the little girl replied. "I wouldn't be so mean!"
"How do you know this fellow was going to sting you?" demanded Sammy.