"It's an island!" cried Toby.

"On the Spanish Main," said Aunt Amanda.

"The Spanish Main!" said the Sly Old Fox. "A beautiful country! Full of palms,—and grape-nuts,—What you might call a real work of nature! Full of parrots, and monkeys, and lagoons, and other wild creatures; a work of nature, my dear friends, a real work of nature."

"And pirates," said Freddie, earnestly.

"I said parrots," said the Sly Old Fox.

"I said pirates," said Freddie.

"Just what I said," said the Sly Old Fox. "That

live in trees, my little friend, in trees; and have red and blue feathers, and——"

"Pirates don't have feathers," said Freddie.

"Dear, dear!" said the Sly Old Fox. "How can you say such a thing? How can you——?"