“Yes!  So foxy that you nearly got us jugged.  You would have, if we had gone up the inlet.  ’Twas just luck that we didn’t.  We anchored quite a way down, and thought we’d have supper first and then go ashore after dark.  Say, those mince turnovers were great!  There was a dory came along with a couple of little boys, about nine or ten years old.  We noticed that they stopped and looked at the boat, but we didn’t think anything of that until half an hour later.  We were eating supper, down in the cabin, and Spook looked out one of the cabin windows and saw another boat, with two men in it.  One of them was armed—­”

“W-With a pup-pup-pitchfork!”

“They squinted round for a few minutes, and then they went up the inlet again.  ’Bout twenty minutes later, just as we were hauling up the anchor and going to sail up to the village, Spook sung out that there were three dories coming down, all full of men with pitchforks—­”

“And g-g-g-g-guns!”

“He said, ’They’re onto us,—­they’ve heard about our stealing this boat!’ I put her about quick, and it was mighty lucky there was a breeze.  Ten minutes before, it was almost a dead calm.  As soon as we swung around they began to yell—­”

“L-L-Like b-b-blue b-b-blazes!  Th-There was one g-great b-b-big d-d-d-d-d-duffer, about t-t-ten f-feet t-t-tall!  He w-was the one I s-saw in the b-boat w-while we were eating s-supper, w-with the pup-pup-pitchfork...”

“That was Eb,” I remarked,—­“it’s lucky he didn’t catch you!”

“E-E-Eb?”

“Yes.  He’s the constable.  Savagest man I ever saw.  He arrests people for almost anything,—­for playing banjos.”

“W-Well, we d-didn’t p-p-play any b-b-b-banjos then, b-by g-g-gum!  I thought it w-was all up with us, and that we’d b-be d-d-d-dangling on the g-g-g-gallows b-b-before l-l-long!  You s-see, they g-g-gained on us, at f-first.  They r-rowed l-l-like fuf-fuf-fiends!  B-But we b-began to d-draw ahead, and then the d-d-d-d-duffer with the pup-pitchfork—­he was in the b-bow of the f-first b-boat—­b-began to yell and b-b-bellow.  He s-said that if we d-didn’t s-stop he’d f-fill us f-full of b-b-b-b-b-bullets!  S-Someone p-passed him up a g-g-gun, and when we saw that, I t-tell you, we d-dropped d-down in the b-bottom of the b-boat.  S-Spike c-c-clung on to the wheel, and held her on her c-course, and we c-crouched down there, waiting for the old b-brute to b-b-blaze away.  But he c-couldn’t s-see us, and so there wasn’t anyone for him to f-fire at.  M-M-Maybe it was all b-b-bluff, b-but we didn’t intend to s-stand up and t-try it, I t-tell you’ After about t-ten minutes we p-p-peeked over the rail, and they were w-way b-back.  They had g-given it up, and s-s-stopped r-rowing.  P-Pretty s-soon, they t-turned around and went b-back.  B-But we thought B-B-Bailey’s Harbor was a p-pretty healthy p-place to k-k-k-keep away from!”