ant to play a game?"

"Certainly, I'm getting awfully tired of sitting here. Let's play a
game."

"I wish you would explain," broke in Tommy. "You are talking about all
sorts of things, and I can't understand a word. What is this all about?
What is it the Gopher saw under the table?"

"Why, he saw It," answered the ex-Pirate.

"Well, what is that?" asked Tommy.

"Don't you know what It is?" exclaimed the ex-Pirate, his eyes opening
very wide with surprise.

"No, I don't," replied the little boy, bluntly, "and I wish you would
explain."

"Goodness!" gasped the Gopher. "Where did you come from? Did not you
ever play any games?"

"Certainly," said the little boy; "but what has that to do with it?"

"You could not very well play any games without It," insisted the
Gopher.

"It," declared the ex-Pirate very slowly and impressively, "is the one
that runs after you when you are playing tag, and the one that hides his
face and shuts his eyes when you play hide-and-go-seek."

"Oh, I've played those games lots of times," said Tommy.

"Then you must have seen It," put in the Sheep.

"Never," said Tommy.

"How did you play, then?" asked the ex-Pirate.

"One of us was it, of course," explained Tommy; "and when he caught
another, the other was it."

"How funny," said the Gopher. "Why, with us It is always It. That's the
fun of the game."

"Of course it is," added the ex-Pirate. "I don't see how you could play
without It. We had an It on board the _Black Avenger_, and we used to
play tag for exercise when we were becalmed. But one day, in a storm, it
was washed overboard, and we had to go without playing games all the
rest of the voyage."

"How stupid of you!" remarked Tommy. "Why did not you take turns being
it?"

"Never thought of such a thing," admitted the ex-Pirate, frankly. "You
will explain to us how it is done, some time, won't you?"

"Why, of course," replied Tommy. "I'm sure it's very simple."

"Is it simpler than dominoes?" inquired the Gopher. "I never could
understand dominoes. You see, there's no It in that, and that makes it
so complicated."

"Yes, the lack of an It complicates games very much," said the
ex-Pirate. "But let us play an easy game now. Go down and butt him out
from under the table," he added, turning to the Sheep.

The latter obligingly jumped to the floor and disappeared under the
table. A few moments later Tommy heard a thump, followed by a whizzing
sound, and then a queer