“Honest, I forgot I promised not to tell about the binnacles,” said Slim pleadingly.
But Katherine was adamant and would not forgive him. Slim grunted ruefully and exclaimed: “Shucks! I always manage to get in bad with her. Always in bad,” he repeated dolefully.
“We’ll have to re-christen you ‘In-Bad the Sailor!’” said Sahwah.
“Really!” said the Captain, making a grimace of comical surprise at her. “Who would have thought the child was so deucedly clevah, bah Jove!”
But the name of In-Bad the Sailor struck the others as being such a good one that they adopted it right away, and Slim had to answer to it half the time for the rest of the summer.
Slim shadowed Katherine so closely and volunteered so gallantly to do all her dinner chores that she relented in the middle of the afternoon and brought out the brown and white “makin’s” that Slim’s sweet tooth so delighted in. The Captain 184 looked at them and jeered as he went past on his way down to the landing.
“Slim would eat his words any day if he could roll them in a piece of fudge,” he called. Slim only smiled sweetly as he watched the experimental spoonful being dropped into the cup of water. Nothing could ruffle him now.
The Captain walked briskly down the hill and untied the small launch.
“Where are you going?” called Hinpoha from the log where she was sitting all by herself reading.
“Over to St. Pierre, to mail a Special Delivery letter for Uncle Teddy,” replied the Captain.