"I won't be embraced, I won't, I won't," cried the old sailor, frantically.
"Come, Captain, do the Hobson act," said Walter, "the ladies expect it."
"Help, help," shouted the captain appealingly, as the circle of grave-faced squaws steadily advanced, "I won't be embraced, I won't."
With a sudden howl of terror the squaws turned and fled.
In his fear, the captain had opened his mouth a little too far and his false teeth had tumbled out. The old sailor caught them in his hand and continued to wave his arms. "I won't be embraced," he shouted.
But there was no need of the defiance; the squaws would not, for untold beads, have come near the strange being with the movable teeth.
"Shame, Captain," said Charley severely, as the two boys approached the old sailor. "You must have been flirting with those ladies to make them act like that."
"I guess they was just attracted by my appearance," said the captain modestly, "I always was a favorite with the ladies."
"Looks as if they were headed this way again," said Walter.
With a cry of fright the old sailor turned and dashed away for the shelter of the hut as fast as he could run.