* * * * *
"So far from any coast, we thought it was a ghost,
And lowers a boat to see what it might be,
Where on its mother's breast a little one did rest,
The mother dead—the babe alive and well!"
* * * * *
"Oh, just like Kitty's story," interrupted Cleo in spite of orders.
"Certainly, that's the reason I'm suffering so to tell it," admitted Margaret.
"Does the song say what they did with the little one?" asked Julia, always intensely sympathetic.
"Yes, listen," again ordered Margaret. "The story tells:
"Now we're a rough old set, some are fathers, don't forget,"
"But—but I can't think of that line, I should have told you 'Our skipper seized the boy, and kisses him with joy——'"
This was almost the end for Margaret, if not the end of the song, for they all seized the girl and smothered her with kisses.