uch affected
with appreciation of his own wit that he fell over backwards, and almost
stunned a Newfoundland puppy who was trying to get his nose above the
table to see what it was all about. Tommy had never realized before what
the expression "to roar with laughter" really signified, and he
concluded he never wanted to experience such a realization again. The
noise was so great that he had to put his fingers to his ears. When the
merriment had partially subsided, the little boy leaned over to the
ex-Pirate and said:

"I have heard that joke before; haven't you?"

"Indeed I have," answered the ex-Pirate, "many a time."

"It's an awfully old one, isn't it?"

"I always suspected it was first gotten off in the Ark," said the
ex-Pirate, shaking his head knowingly; "but I did not know the Gopher
was responsible for it."

By this time the animals had recovered themselves, and some were
shouting to the Gopher for more jokes. He got up and protested that he
did not know any more; and then, suddenly pointing to the ex-Pirate, he
exclaimed:

"He's a funny one. He can _recite_ things!"

Thereupon the animals all gazed at the ex-Pirate, and the Lion said,
"Recite things."

The ex-Pirate never needed much urging to do this sort of thing, and so
when Tommy whispered to him to read the seventeenth chapter of his
autobiography which he knew his friend had in his pocket, and of which
the little boy had only heard the first few lines, the ex-Pirate arose,
and, bowing in his usual way to all his hearers, he pulled his
manuscript from his coat and began to read:

The following day the sun rose up as usual from the East.
The sea was calm, the sky was clear, the stormy winds had ceased;
The _Black Avenger_ sped along before a gentle breeze,
And the starboard watch loafed on the deck in true piratic ease.
I took my breakfast down below, and when I came on deck
I looked about, and far away I saw a little speck
Upon the blue horizon, and I knew it was a sail.
For, in matters of this nature, my eyesight could not fail.
I called my swarthy Bo's'n, and I said to him, said I:
"If we don't overtake that ship, I'll know the reason why;
If we don't overtake her ere the sun shines overhead
I'll cut the whiskers off the crew before I go to bed!"
The Bo's'n nodded cheerfully and swore a fearful oath,
(He called upon the Sun and Moon, and scandalized them both,)
And then he hitched his trousers up and piped hi