and said
"begorra," and Brian was a dear. And very likely Nancy must be one of
the nice Irish, or Callum would not want to marry her. And if they did
not let him marry her, then that would be an awful thing, for if Callum
failed to appear on the wedding day Nancy would certainly take the
heartbreak, like Aunt Eleanor, and be sick forever and ever, and have
to lie for days in a dark room and have headaches and nasty medicine.

Scotty's heart was wrung at the awful prospect. Was Isabel sure? Why,
of course, she knew all about heartbreak and disappointments and such
things. Scotty declared desperately that something must be done. And
without an instant's meditation Isabel burst forth with the brilliant
suggestion--why could they not take their pirate ship, sail down the
Oro to the Flats and carry Nancy off bodily?

Scotty was dazzled. This was a thrilling project, entailing, as it
did, an adventure in their wonderful vessel. For some time before the
close of school he and Danny Murphy had been copartners in a tremendous
secret enterprise. Down in the green tunnel made by the "Birch Crick,"
where it foamed along through a tangle of timber and underbrush, until
it found its way into the Oro, they had discovered, early that spring,
a derelict punt. This craft had come like an answer to prayer; they
had patched it up, launched it, and, before the holidays, had spent
aboard its rotten timbers days of perfectly abandoned joy. Several
times, indeed, they had made adventurous voyages out upon the Oro
itself, and had had hairbreadth escapes, for the vessel leaked and
accidents were frequent. But every boy of Number Nine school was an
amphibious animal, and such small things as shipwrecks mattered little.
With the close of school these happy excursions had to be given up.
Only once had the boys been on a voyage since, and then Isabel had
accompanied them, and they had not gone far. But here was a chance to
go on a wonderful tour. They would sail down to the Flats and steal
Nancy; perhaps they would even take a voyage down to Lake Simcoe and
away out upon the Atlantic Ocean and have fights with pirates and
Fenians. Scotty's ambition was fired to be away at once, but there was
one trouble--Isabel herself. She was all right at home, but her habit
of hanging on to his coat with both hands when danger threatened would
be embarrassing in public, and he did not even dare to think what Danny
would say if he saw him in such