“He was cast upon a desert island,” repeated William, “an’ the desert island was full of savage cannibals what chased him round an’ round the island till he climbed a tree an’ they all s’rounded the tree utterin’ fierce yells——”
“What was they yellin’?” said Henry with interest.
“How could anyone tell what they was yelling without knowin’ the langwidge?” said William impatiently. “Do you know the cannibal langwidge? No, an’ the man din’t, so how could he tell wot they was yellin’?”
“Well the one wot’s tellin’ the tale oughter know,” said Henry doggedly, “You oughter know. The one wot’s tellin’ the tale oughter know everythin’ in the tale——”
“Well, I do,” said William crushingly, “but I’m not goin’ to tell you wot they was yellin’, so there. An’ when you’ve all kin’ly finished int’ruptin’ I’ll kin’ly go on. They was all beneath the tree utterin’ fierce yells wot I know wot they meant but wot I’m not goin’ to tell you, when he took a great big jump right off the tree, splash into the sea again an’ caught hold of a whale wot was jus’ passing and got on its back an’ held tight on by its fins——”
“I don’t think a whale’s got fins,” said Douglas dubiously.
“I don’ care whether other whales’ve got fins or not,” said William firmly, “this one haddem anyway. An’ he kept rearin’ up an’ turnin’ over so’s to shake the man off but the man held tight and—now, Henry, go on.”
“A’ right,” said Henry, “well he went on an’ on on the whale’s back till he came to a ship an’ he jumped up on to it from the whale’s back——”
“He couldn’t have done,” said Douglas firmly.
“What?” said Henry.