"Pshaw! It isn't deep at all. It wouldn't drown a rat--not even a little mouse."
Then there was trouble.
They heard shouts along the shore, and, looking back, saw Fatty Hamm, Reddy Toms, and Sammy Soapstone, jumping around like wild Indians. They looked again--sharply this time--and saw that it wasn't boys after all, but pirates, wicked, cruel, bloodthirsty pirates! And that was bad enough!
"They're trying to capture us," shouted brave Captain Kidd, then, forgetting that his ship was a full-rigged ship and went by sail, he called,
"Row, brothers, row,
The stream runs fast."
You see, he remembered that from a poetry book he had read once and thought it would just suit.
And all the time the crew of the "Jolly Roger" looked angrily back at shore.
"Splash!"
A big stone fell near them. No, it wasn't a stone. It was a--cannon ball! The pirates on shore were trying to knock holes in their ship!
"You're awful shots," the Captain jeered fearlessly. "We're coming ashore to capture your cannon." He was very brave through all these trying times--and so were the crew. And they just turned their ship around and headed straight for the shore, though the cannon balls fell all around them.