“Thought you said they wouldn’t sting any one they were introduced to,” said Rob, with a half smile.
“Wall, I guess in the hurry I must hev overlooked them two,” responded the captain, without the quiver of an eyelid. Stepping up to the capering Tubby, he deftly removed two bees from the back of his neck.
“Consarn ye!” he said angrily, as if he were addressing human beings. “What’s the matter with you, you mutinous dogs.”
The boys burst into a roar of laughter at such talk addressed to bees, but the captain solemnly assured them that the little winged creatures understood every word.
“Will those that flew away come back to you?” inquired Rob, with interest.
“No, lad. They’ve deserted ther ship,” was the rejoinder. “But they done it in a good cause, so I ain’t got a word to say. But now let’s trim our sails, up anchor, and lay a course for home. My boat’s at the Inlet, and I’ve got ter make ther island by dark.”
“How is Skipper?” asked Rob, as they accordingly strode forward at a brisk pace.
“Just as good a shipmate as ever,” was the response. “That thar dog gits more sensible every day. I thought that time when he found them uniforms thet Jack Curtiss and that rascal Bender stole that he was just about the limit in dog sense, but he does smarter things than that right along. Speakin’ uv that, what’s come of Jack Curtiss and his piratical shipmates?”
The boys soon told him what they knew of those two worthies. The captain shook his head as he heard.
“Bad craft them two,” he observed, shaking his head with renewed energy. “But, to my thinkin’, they ain’t much worse than that yaller-skinned feller and his mate wot attacked you on the road.”