Oh, there's many a tale that I like to tell,
And many a yarn to spin,
But there's none I love one-half so well
As the story of Abou-Ben-Din.
For Abou-Ben-Din was a terrible man,
A blood-thirsty wretch through and through;
A pirate on quite an original plan,
And he captained a terrible crew.
Not a man did he have on his swift-sailing craft,
But a hundred and ten wild beasts,
That snarled on the deck while Abou stood aft,
And steered them toward movable feasts.
For all day the brutes, with eyes opened wide,
Would eagerly watch for a sail,
And as soon as their vessel was brought alongside
They would swarm like rats o'er the rail.
Then after the lions and tigers had dined,
Old Abou would visit the ship.
To collect all the booty and goods he could find
Then drive his beasts back with a whip.
Thus it soon came to pass that the sailors were few
Who would sail in the India Seas,
Where Abou-Ben-Din and his man eating crew
Were eager and ready to seize.
But I was no coward, and none of my crew
Had ever been known to show fear;
So I said, "We will capture this nautical Zoo;
Toward Abou-Ben-Din let us steer!"
The men all agreed, and we started that day
With cheering and waving of caps;
And down in the hold I had hidden away
A hundred and fifty steel traps.
These were brought up on deck as soon as we spied
Old Abou-Ben-Din and his ship,
And were set and all covered with sawdust to hide
The teeth that were ready to grip.
Then the men went below and closed down the hatch,
While I clambered up on the mast,
Where, safe from the lions, 'twas easy to watch
What happened from first to the last.
Well, the pirate approached. He came alongside.
And the beasts all scrambled aboard;
And I never have heard such cries as they cried,
Or such terrible roars as they roared.
Each lion was caught, and he couldn't get free,
Each trap held an animal fast;
And the way that they struggled was fearful to see—
And I saw it all from the mast.
But Abou-Ben-Din merely gazed in dismay,
And when he knew what had occurred,
He plunged in the sea, and sank straightaway,
Without ever speaking a word.
Ay, there's many a tale that I like to tell,
And many a yarn to spin,
But there's none I love one-half so well
As the story of Abou-Ben-Din!
There was a dead silence when the ex-Pirate finished his recital, and Tommy noticed that the lions and tigers were shifting about restlessly in their chairs. He turned quickly to the Gopher, and said in low tones,
"They don't seem to like it."
"I'm afraid it was a trifle personal," answered the Gopher.
"Perhaps we had better retire," suggested the ex-Pirate, prudently.
"Where can we go?" asked Tommy.
"You can go to the dogs," said the Gopher.
"You must not talk like that," observed Tommy, sharply. He had heard his Uncle Dick use that expression before, and it shocked him a little.
THE EX-PIRATE JUMPED UPON THE TABLE AND FIRED.