"Fiddle!" he exclaimed. "Who said fiddle? Is there a fiddle on board? If there is, I'm going to jump!"
"I did not say there was a fiddle on board," remonstrated Tommy. "I said it sounded like a fiddle."
"Oh!"
"What are you so afraid of a fiddler for?"
"If I tell you you will easily understand," answered the ex-Pirate, with a deep sigh.
"Well, tell us. Is it interesting?"
"Yes, and I can give it to you in rhyme. Will you have it in four verses or in six?"
"I guess four will do," answered the little boy, and he leaned over and pulled the Gopher up closer. "Come and hear the poetry," he said.
The ex-Pirate turned toward his audience on the rafter, and recited:
"There once was a fiddler whose name was McPhee,
And he fiddled, he fiddled, did he.
He fiddled so loud and he fiddled so long
That the neighbors all thought there must be something wrong
With this fearful old fellow, this fiddler McPhee,
For he fiddled, he fiddled, did he.
"So one day the neighbors all went up to see
What the cause of this unceasing fiddling could be.
They appointed committees to go in and speak
In behalf of them all to this fiddling freak,
Who had fiddled all day and all night for a week;
But their efforts all failed with this frightful McPhee,
Who fiddled for fun, he fiddled, did he.
"The first man to face the fiddler McPhee
Was a fat little fellow, who said, 'Sir,' said he,
'You fiddle all night and you fiddle all day,
You fiddle and fiddle your whole time away;
Won't you tell us the reason why all this should be?'
But the fiddler still fiddled, he fiddled, did he.
"But finally, while fiddling, he said, 'Sir,' said he,
'You will greatly oblige me by letting me be;
All your fussing and fretting and fuming,' said he,
'Is nothing at all—it's fiddledidee!'
So he kept on a fiddling, this fellow McPhee,
And he fiddled, and fiddled, and fiddled, did he.