A roar of laughter went up.
The idea of doing the Germans and the British government at the same time appealed so much to these gentlemen that they forgot to consider over the terms for the division of the spoil or dispute them.
“And may I ax are we heading for Valparaiso now?” asked the red-headed man.
“No, we are not; we are heading for a little German island named Christobal.”
“And what are we goin’ to do there?” asked another of the crowd.
“We are going to collect all the money we can find for the British government.”
Another howl of laughter.
“And suppose, when we’re landed at this here island, a German ship comes along and asks us what we are doing?” spoke up a grumbler. “What’ll us say to that?”
“Why, we’ll say we’re picking mushrooms,” replied the Captain. “Any more inquiries? Well, then, you can get to work. See here! I want half a dozen chaps to help me rig up a dummy gun on the bow balks. A stovepipe is good, but we haven’t got one, so we must just use a big spar sawed down. There’s a spare yard will do. I’ll go and speak to Mr. Harman about it.”