ly dressed to set
down with me, for it's an uncommon good one. I can tell you--corn
muffins and flapjacks with maple syrup an--"

Here the speaker was interrupted by a howl from the Rangers, who had
just realized how very hungry they were, and how impossible it would be
to carry on a mutiny unless properly clad for such an undertaking. Most
of them were willing to give in at once, but several held out, until,
overcome by a fragrant whiff of coffee that came floating in from the
cabin, human nature could resist no longer; so an unconditional
surrender was declared, and their clothing, all nicely dried, was
restored to them by the grinning Jabe. Five minutes later the recent
mutineers were gathered about the smoking breakfast table. As they
satisfied their ravenous appetites they also found occasion to rejoice
that their mutiny had effected its purpose, for they learned that the
skipper had surrendered even before they did, and that the sloop was
already headed toward their desired destination.

All that day they sailed down the beautiful river, and at night the
sloop was anchored at its mouth, where they were cooled by a sea-breeze
and rocked by a gentle swell rolling in from the Sound. The next day
they crossed the Sound, and finally drew near the lonely island on which
they anticipated such glorious times.

During these two days of sailing the skipper kept the boys from mischief
by interesting them in various simple problems of seamanship. He gave
them lessons in boxing the compass, splicing, tying knots, naming the
various sails, spars, and ropes, and in steering, that caused them to
realize with amazement the extent of their former ignorance concerning
such matters. Will Rogers was especially interested in all this, and
became so expert in steering that the skipper allowed him to hold the
tiller for an hour at a time.

"I tell you what, fellows," he said to a group of his comrades, after
being relieved from his trick at the helm, "we've learned such a lot on
this trip that I feel ashamed to think how little we really knew when we
started."

"Yes," replied Cracker Bob Jones, "but we know more now than we even
thought we did when we left Berks."

Early in the afternoon the sloop reached the island, on which the
excited boys had already distinguished the tops of tents and a number of
gayly fluttering flags. There was a good harbor around a point, but the
channel to it was very narrow, and so beset with reefs that