"Yes, that's better still," cut in Cleo. "Give us the hum."
"Do be quiet, girls, or we will get neither song nor hum nor story," said Helen. "Go ahead, Margaret. Tell it your own way, as they say in court trials."
Again Margaret was directed to take up her Little Jack.
"It begins by calling the mates to come around-around-around——"
"The hearth," suggested Julia.
"Hearth on the sea!" cried Margaret in scorn.
"I'll fine the next girl who interrupts," announced Captain Mae. "Go on, Maggie."
"I'll skip the introduction, I have to," Margaret admitted, struggling with a laugh, "but I know these lines:
"It was on the Spanish Main——
"And in a night of rain—then I have to skip again, but you will understand the story," braved Margaret. "The sailors saw something, I just have to insert that clause," she contributed, "then it goes: