g, and after that they were
properly put to bed under nice warm covers, but they did not sleep,
you may be sure, but lay awake waiting for the little boy to fall
asleep so that they might make their escape.

At last the moment arrived, and silently and cautiously they crept
from under the covers, and once the Villain stumbled in climbing over
the side of the crib, which wakened the little boy, but he must have
been very tired for he went to sleep at once without thinking of his
dolls.

They hurried away in the direction of the water, which Jackie Tar said
he knew, for, said he, "A sailor can always smell the salt sea air, no
matter how far away he may be."

And sure enough, in a few moments they arrived at the water's edge.

"Now that we are here," said Kernel Cob, "what's to be done?"

"All in good time, Kernel," said Jackie Tar, "Each man to his trade,"
and he began to look about.

"Gather all the sticks you see and bring them to me," said he, and
they brought him pieces of wood, large and small, and he chose the
largest, and having torn the lining of his jacket into strips, he
spliced them into a rope and with this he tied the wood together until
he had made a very good raft indeed.

And he set the biggest stick of all, which was a bamboo pole, into the
raft and tying his jacket with one sleeve at the top, and the other at
the bottom of the pole, he had a good sail made in a jiffy.

"All aboard," he sang out and they got upon the raft and sat
"forward," as he told them, and grasping the tail of his coat in one
hand, and the rudder with the other, for he had tied a flat board at
the stern of the raft, they set sail.

"Where away?" he asked.

"I don't care," said Kernel Cob, "as long as we get away from this
China place, for I don't like any place that isn't what it says it
is."

"Aye, aye, sir," said Jackie Tar. "If you take my advice, we'll steer
for India."

"Why?" asked the Villain.

"Because," said Jackie Tar, "from India there is always a ship bound
for England and, once in England, we can easily get a ship for
America."

"Goodie!" said Sweetclover.

And so Jackie Tar steered the raft in the direction of India, and they
sailed with a good wind.

"I thought you said it was the thirteenth of the month?" said the
Villain.

"I must have made a mistake," said Jackie Tar, "for I never had a
better ship in all the years I've sailed the seas."

[Illustration]

[Illustration]