"I—that is, we," replied the supposed mandarin, "are the Second Story Brothers, the cleverest porch climbers in China. In other words we are robbers, and famous ones, too. Why we've even written a song about ourselves. It goes like this." Throwing back his head he sang and his brothers joined in:
The sailor sings of the ocean blue,
For that is the proper thing to do.
The soldier sings of the battles fought
With a hip hurrah as a soldier ought.
But, oh, our song it beats all others—
The song of the Second Story Brothers—
And this is the way the ditty closes
As we sing it softly through our noses:
Look out for your money bags and diamond studded pin, sir.