Jiminy, Pee-wee didn’t know what to think—whether I was kidding him or not. “Why won’t I?” he wanted to know. “Because it will be going the other way,” I said, “see? It’ll be flowing away from the boat.” Oh, boy! Pee-wee just emptied the bailing can down my neck. And that’s the way it was all the way down. Cracky, but we had Pee-wee so crazy that he’d bail up a can of water out of one end of the boat and empty it in the other end. “What’s the difference whether it’s inside or outside?” Westy said, “as long as it’s there. I bet there’s a lot of canned salmon in this river.” “Canned what?” Pee-wee shouted. “Keep on bailing,” I said; “canned salmon is what he said, but I think there are more pickled herrings. There’s lots of pickled herrings in the Hudson, I know that.” “You mean smoked herring,” Westy said, all the while rowing and looking around very sober like at me. Oh, boy, didn’t Pee-wee open his eyes and stare! He didn’t know whether to take it for a joke or not—we were so serious. “I suppose it’s on account of the smoke from the big Hudson River boats,” I said, “just the same as Oyster Bay.” “What about Oyster Bay?” Pee-wee shouted. “When the water gets all stewed up in rough weather, they get stewed oysters.” “Not always,” Westy said. “No, but most of the time,” I said. “Oh, sure,” Westy said, “but I’ve seen lots of red lobsters that didn’t come from Red Bank——” “It’s boiling makes them red; you big galook!” Pee-wee yelled. “Oh, sure,” I said, not paying any attention to him, but all the while rowing hard and looking around very sober like at Westy, “because I know there are lots of bluefish caught near Greenland and you’d think by rights they ought to be green.” “Sure,” Westy said, “just the same as the fish caught in American River out west, are red, white and blue.” “And stars,” I said. “Sure the river’s full of starfish and striped mackerel—stars and stripes. That’s why you have to stand up in the boat if you’re rowing on that river.” “Oh, sure,” Westy said, “that’s why so many boats get upset.” Good night! you should have seen Pee-wee. “Keep on bailing, kiddo,” I said, “keep plenty of water in the river.” “Maybe it would be better to let a little more come into the boat,” Westy said, “so as to lower the water in the river, so we can get under the bridge.” “The both of you make me tired!” Pee-wee yelled; “do you think I believe all that stuff?” Good night, some circus! It’s always that way when Westy and I get out with Pee-wee. Pretty soon we heard a loud whistling and we wondered what it was, because it didn’t sound like a train and it sure wasn’t on a motor-boat.