ked Kitty. "Then we can both have the
Rangeley."

"All right!" said Willy, brightening at once. "Where shall we go? We
might play Pirate a bit--"

"And then go for the milk! That would be great!"

"All right, come on, Kit."

"Oh! but, Willy--"

"Well?"

"We must go and tell Mammy first."

Once more the two children presented themselves before their mother, who
was still writing busily. At the first "Mammy!" she looked up quickly.

"Well, dears!" she said, "I was wondering where you were. What are you
going to play this afternoon?"

"We thought perhaps we might have the Rangeley together, and play
Pirate!" said Willy.

"And then go for the milk!" said Kitty.

"To be sure!" said Mrs. Merryweather. "Yes, Papa said you might have the
boat if you wanted it. That will be very nice, only be careful, dears.
Give Mammy a kiss, and have a great good time."

* * * * *

"Run her up!" said the Pirate Captain.

"Ay, ay, sir!" replied the mate.

The Jolly Roger fluttered up to the mast-head: skull and crossbones
black as ink could make them, ground very nearly white; it was a
splendid flag. The Captain was a terrible figure, clad in yellow
oilskins many sizes too big for him, with ferocious mustaches curling up
to his eyes. His belt contained a perfect armory of weapons; item, a
pistol that had lost its barrel; item, three wooden daggers, assorted
sizes; item, one tomahawk, home-made. The mate was scarcely less
terrifying, for though a blue petticoat showed beneath his oilskin
jacket, and curls flowed from under his sou'wester, he made up for it by
a mass of oakum beard and whisker that was truly awe-inspiring. Also, he
had the truncheon which used to be a curling stick, and a deadly weapon
of singular appearance which was understood to be a boomerang.

"Look out, Bill! avast there! dost see any foes about?"

"Ay, ay, sir! I see a craft on the jib boom--"

"_Lee bow_, Kitty!--I mean Bill; not jib boom! You are always saying
that."

[Illustration: "''TIS NOT A PLATE SHIP!'"]

"I meant lee bow!" said Bill, anxious to please. "Anyhow, I see a craft,
your Honor. I think she is a plate ship from the Spanish Main. Shall we
run her down?"

"Give me the glass!" exclaimed the Pirate Captain: and through that
instrument, which the ignorant might have mistaken for a battered tin
horn, he scrutinized the "craft," which lay on the water at some
distance.

"'Tis not a plate ship!" he ann