“Then the other captain said, ‘Three cheers for the Skipper!’ and fifty-_one_ captains shouted, ‘Hurrah!’ three times. So that was settled, and they went down to the cabin for lunch.” “What did they have?” asked the Kitten. “Plum duff,—full of raisins,” said the Princess. “Did they like it?” asked Pat. “You’d have thought so if you’d seen them. Every one took a second helping until Taffy was almost discouraged. He was in a hurry to be through. But at last they were finished and back on the deck to hear what the Captain had to propose. “‘Now,’ said the Captain, ‘we shall have to borrow your masts and some anchors.’ They nodded, and the Captain called; ‘Mr. Morganwg! You may set to work.’ “‘At once, sir,’ said Taffy, and called, ‘Bos’n!’ “‘Ay, ay, sir,’ said the Bos’n, running up. “‘Call the men,’ ordered the Mate. “The Bos’n blew his ordinary whistle, and at the same time the captains began to go over the side of the Jane Ellen to return to their own ships. They all looked very smiling and good-natured but one man,—the one who hadn’t cheered. “When it came his turn to say good-by, he just humped up his shoulder and growled, and then he turned around and said, very loud, ‘The rest of you can do as you like, but I’m blowed if you take _my_ mainmast for any such foolishness!’ Then he went down the side of the ship and was rowed away. “The captains who heard him looked perfectly disgusted, and Taffy said to his captain, ‘Shall I attend to him, sir?’ “‘Yes!’ said the Captain, and they all nodded. So, before they did anything else, Taffy and the Bos’n and his men went to the rude Skipper’s ship (it was a brigantine, the Wandering Willie), and they set all the sails, and tied the ropes in hard knots instead of just belaying them, as every one knows is seamanlike. Then they weighed the anchor, and got off as quickly as they could,—and off went the Wandering Willie! And it had gone only a little way when the wind changed, and the Skipper shouted in the roughest voice, ‘Ease ’er off!’ And when the sailors tried, they couldn’t untie the knots, and the ship keeled over, farther and farther, until, all at once, she turned bottom up, and every one had to swim back to the other ships! The crew were glad of it, because they were better off; and the rude captain, who couldn’t swim very well, had to be thankful to be pulled aboard and allowed to ship before the mast on the Jane Ellen. And he learned in time to be a very good sailor.” “That was just right for him,” said Pat.