CAPTAIN: Blast me, the lantern 's out!

PATCH: Rot me, but there were an explosion!

DARLIN': Poof! And there were n't no lantern!

DUKE: What done it? What done it? I asks yer.

(_They stand at the window and look toward the ocean._)

DUKE: She is still headed on. Her nose is still pointin' toward the
cliff.

CAPTAIN: What 's that?

DUKE: I hears the rattlin' o' chains. She 's droppin' anchor. She has
sniffed the willainy. Her anchor 's down. She 's saved hisself. Blow
me, she 's saved hisself.

CAPTAIN: Yer can hang me ter a gibbet.

PATCH: Yer can rot me bones.

DARLIN': Me heart 's gone palpy.

DUKE: What done it? What done it? I asks yer.

(_At this point let us hope that the curtain does not stick._)

[Illustration: "What done it? I asks yer"]

[Illustration: ACT III]

ACT III

_The scene is the same as before. We have given up all hope of a
pirate ship rocking on the sea. Our plot still twists us around its
little finger. The curtain rises on the tableau of the second act. Old
Petey shows again at the window to the right._

DUKE: What done it? What done it? I asks yer.

PATCH: Jest when everythin' was goin' pretty.

CAPTAIN: Jest when she was about ter hit.

DARLIN': Me heart near stopped--I was that excited.

(_The pirates sit in deep dejection._)

DUKE: The mystery o' this business is how the blinkin' lantern went
out.

CAPTAIN: Ol' Petey done his part.

PATCH: He doused herself in time.

CAPTAIN: It was the lantern done it.

DUKE: When there were n't no light at all, the Royal 'Arry, she jest
sniffed willainy and dropped anchor.

PATCH: I was repeatin' Smash yer devil! Smash yer devil!--kinder
hurryin' her on.

DARLIN': I was sayin' Now I lay me--throbbin' with excitement.

DUKE: It was n't ile. I put ile in the lantern meself. Captain, yer
seen me put in ile.

CAPTAIN: I seen yer. And I swished it meself ter be sure.

PATCH: Nothin 's been right since that ol' lady hanged me ter a
gibbet.

CAPTAIN: There we was watchin'--

PATCH: Pop!

CAPTAIN: And all of a sudden--quicker 'n seven devils--the bloomin'
lantern went all ter pieces. It 's grog, I says. Snakes is next. It
were a comfert to the ol' Captain ter know that all o' yer seen it. I
seen a yeller rhinoceros once, runnin' along with purple mice--all
alone I seen it--and it kinder sickened me o' rum.

PATCH: Does yer think the lantern exploded?

DUKE: Did yer ever hear o' a ship's lantern explod