"You'd better be back if you want any tea," said Ethel.
William felt that they lacked every quality that the family of a shipwrecked mariner should possess. Not for the first time he washed his hands of them in disgust.
"All right," he said. "Don't blame me if—if you're sorry when it's too late."
With this cryptic remark he left them.
To a casual observer William looked only a small boy walking slowly down a road, frowning, with his hands in his pockets. He was really an intrepid mariner sailing across an uncharted sea.
"Hello, William."
William had a weak spot in his heart for Joan. He rather liked her dimples and dark curls. In his softer moments he had contemplated Joan actually reigning by his side as pirate-queen or robber-chieftainess. Now he felt that her presence might enliven a somewhat lonely voyage.
"I'm an explorer," he said, "sailin' along an' lookin' for new lands."
"Oh, William," Joan pleaded, "may I come with you?"
He considered the matter with a judicial frown.