HE other pirate ship looked very big and grand. All its sails were filled with wind and it came cutting through the waves so fast that it looked as if it were alive. Barty stood and watched it and Saturday came and took hold of his hand. Everybody on the polite pirates' ship was running about, dragging guns into place or pulling ropes or sharpening swords. There was a great clatter and noise and shouting of "I beg your pardon," or "pray excuse me," or "may I ask you to be so kind," when the pirates fell over each other, or got in each other's way, or wanted to be helped to lift or drag something. Blue Crest prudently went and hid in a coil of rope and Good Wolf walked up and down the deck and examined things. Baboo Bajorum walked up and down, too, with his big hands in his pockets. Suddenly there came a white puff of smoke from the chasing ship and a big "boom," and Barty and Saturday both jumped at the same time because they knew the cannon had begun to fire.
The pirate captain shouted and waved his sword and then a puff of white smoke and a big "boom" came from the side of his ship, and Barty knew they had fired back.
Then everything became so exciting that you could scarcely stand it.
As soon as the boom and puff of white smoke was sent from the polite pirates' ship, a boom and a puff of white smoke came from the impolite pirates' ship, and as soon as a boom came from the impolite pirates' ship, a boom answered back from the polite pirates' ship.
It was like this:
"Boom!" from the impolite pirates.
"Boom——boom!" from the polite pirates.
"Boom!" from the impolite pirates.
"Boom, boom, boom!" from the polite pirates.
"Let us go and sit behind that big coil of rope and watch," said the Good Wolf.
It was the coil of rope Blue Crest had hidden herself inside, and when Barty and the Good Wolf and Saturday sat on the floor of the deck behind it, she was so glad that she whistled Barty's little song to let him know that she was quite near him. But Barty could scarcely hear her because there was so much noise. Pirates were shouting, gunners were ramming cannon balls into cannons, and the polite pirate captain was yelling polite orders to his men. Barty was obliged to shout himself, just as he had been obliged to shout in the tropical storm.
"Do you think we shall win?" he called out, as loud as he could, to the Good Wolf.
"We have the best guns," the Good Wolf called back. "The polite pirates have taken good care of their guns instead of quarreling about who should clean them. Listen!"
"Boom! Boom!" came from the impolite pirates' ship.
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Bang! Crash!" answered the polite pirates' ship.
The crash was the splitting and tearing open of the side of the other ship. Barty jumped up at the sound of it.
"We've hit them! We've hit them!" he shouted.
"We have the best gunners!" called out the Good Wolf.
"Boom!" said the impolite pirates' ship.
"Boom! Bang! Crash! Bang! Bang! Boom!" said the polite pirates.
Barty could not help jumping up and down, and Saturday simply stood on his head for joy and waved his little black legs in the air. Then came another roar and crash and bang, and the polite pirates raised a great loud cheer of victory and threw their hats in the air. The impolite pirates' ship was rapidly filling with water, and toppling over on one side.
"We've won! We've won!" cried Barty, dancing. "Look at the pirates running to launch their life-boats."
The impolite pirates were indeed running and skurrying about like mad things. They had left their guns altogether. The sea was pouring in at the big holes in the side of their ship and the ship was tilting more and more every second.
"If they don't get into the boats in a few minutes, their ship will turn over and they will be drowned," said the Good Wolf.
"They are the quickest pirates I ever saw," said Barty—"though, of course, I haven't seen many."
"We've won! We've won!" cried Barty, dancing.
They were quick. They skurried and scuffled and darted. They undid knots and loosened ropes like lightning, and in two minutes their life boats swung out and they scrambled into them and were dropped down into the water.
"If Baboo Bajorum was to fire a broadside into them now," said the Good Wolf, "he would blow them and their boats into smithereens."
"Oh, I should not like him to do that," said Barty. "I'll go and ask him not to do it."
He ran to the end of the ship where Baboo Bajorum was standing watching the other ship sinking, and he took off his hat and made his deepest and politest bow.
"I beg your pardon," he said, "excuse me for interrupting. I know it is not polite but would you be so kind as to do me the great favor of not blowing the Impolite Pirates into smithereens. If they hadn't come I should never have seen a pirate battle on the high seas and I always wanted to see one."
And he made another bow which was really a most beautiful one.
Baboo Bajorum listened to him with the greatest politeness. He made a bow each time Barty made one. In fact Barty thought he looked like a very nice gorilla indeed. He did something with his face that looked rather like smiling and then he put out his big hairy hand and patted Barty's head.
"Thank you, Mr. Bajorum," Barty said, feeling much relieved. "It's very kind of you, because, of course, they have given you a good deal of trouble."
Then he went back to the Good Wolf. He was rather hot and out of breath with excitement and he fanned himself with his hat.
"Even Robinson Crusoe never went to a pirate's battle," he said. "This is the biggest adventure of all. Let's go and look over the side and see what the other pirates are doing."
Evidently Baboo Bajorum had given his gunners orders to stop firing, because they had left their cannons and with the rest of the crew had run to the side and were leaning over watching their conquered enemies just as Barty wanted to do. The Impolite Pirates, all black with smoke and powder, were looking very much frightened. They had got into their boats and were rowing away from their sinking ship, but they plainly did not know which way to go, because they realized that if Baboo Bajorum began to fire his cannons at them he would blow them to smithereens. In fact, they could not understand why he did not blow them to smithereens immediately, and it made them feel very nervous. Of course they had not the least idea that Barty and the Good Wolf were on board, or perhaps they would have known that Barty was the kind of little boy who would not like to see pieces of pirates flying about in the air, even though he had felt that a pirates' battle was a sort of accommodation to him.
Their ship tilted more and more and at last sank down and down into the water, until it was out of sight. The cannon balls had smashed such big holes in it that the sea filled it directly. And the Impolite Pirates bent over their oars and rowed and looked back over their shoulders at Baboo Bajorum's ship in a frightened manner. They were saying to each other, "What is he going to do next?"
You see the trouble was, that however fast they rowed, they could not get away because Baboo Bajorum's ship was quietly sailing after them and they were so tired with fighting that they could scarcely row at all.
"And where do they think they are going to row to?" said the Polite Pirate captain. "They have neither food nor water in their boats and of course they are afraid to row towards the Desert Island, because we can stop them. They will simply perish if they row out on the high seas."
"Perish," said Barty.
He had once read a story about shipwrecked sailors perishing on the high seas, and it had made him cry. "I don't believe I want them to perish. I should not like to perish myself and neither would you. Now, would you?"
"No," answered the captain, "I should not. Nobody would. Perishing is about as unpleasant a thing as could happen to any man."
"I will go," said Barty, determinedly, "and speak to Mr. Bajorum."
So he ran to Baboo Bajorum, and after saluting in the usual manner he made three bows, one after the other.
"I hope I am not intruding and that you will please to be so kind as to excuse me for troubling you, Mr. Bajorum," he said, "but might I ask you another very great favor. The Impolite Pirates are very frightened, and they were in such a hurry that they had not time to put any food or water in their boats, and if they try to row out to sea they will perish. Do you think, sir, if you forgave them and let them come on board and you took a good deal of pains with them you might improve them into Polite Pirates, just as you did the others. You see, it would make your crew much bigger, and it might be much wiser for everybody when you were all intimate friends. Do you think you could oblige me by doing it?—excuse the liberty I am taking."
Mr. Baboo Bajorum listened as attentively as he had done before, and almost as soon as he began to speak Barty saw him do that thing with his face which made him look as if he were smiling, and even before Barty had finished he put out his big hairy hand and patted him again on the head.
"Thank you very kindly, Mr. Bajorum," said Barty. "I am extremely obliged and grateful and—and 'preciative. Could you call them back now? They are very tired, but they are rowing as fast as they can."
He forgot that Baboo Bajorum did not speak in the ordinary way and so could not call out "Come back, I won't hurt you."
Perhaps Baboo Bajorum forgot, too. He leaned over the side and waved his long, huge, hairy arm and gave a kind of awful roar. The pirates did not understand him at all and were so frightened that several of them tumbled backwards off their seats, and one or two of them dropped their oars and tried to hide themselves in the bottom of their boats.
"They are so frightened they can't understand," said Barty. "Would you mind lifting me up and letting me stand on the side and wave my handkerchief at them?—if it won't inconvenience you, please."
Baboo Bajorum lifted him up in a minute. His long arms were so strong that he lifted him as easily as if he were a pin. Barty stood on the rail and took out his pocket handkerchief and waved and waved it, and then he made a trumpet of his hands and shouted as loud as ever he could.
"Come back! Come back! We won't hurt you. Come back! Come back!"
A nice, fat, curly-headed little boy, standing on a ship's side, waving a white handkerchief and shouting in a loud and friendly manner, is a very different thing from a Baboo Bajorum shaking a long, black, hairy arm and roaring, so the Impolite Pirates stopped rowing and began to listen. The captain leaned over and put his hand behind his ear. Then he gave orders to his sailors and they began to row cautiously towards the ship.
"What did you say?" he shouted.
"Come back," Barty shouted in answer. "Mr. Bajorum will not let anyone hurt you. This," waving his hand towards the Baboo to introduce him, "is Mr. Bajorum."
The Impolite Pirates were so astonished that their faces dropped and they sat with their mouths wide open. Then they took off their hats and mopped their foreheads with their red bandanna handkerchiefs. Then they took up their oars and began to row towards the ship.
They were in five boats, and they all stopped in a line by the ship's side and looked up at the row of Polite Pirates who were looking down. They were so amazed that their mouths were still wide open, and when the Impolite Pirate captain spoke he stammered.
"D-d-did you s-s-say we m-might c-c-come on b-b-b-board?" he said. And when all the Polite Pirates bowed at once and the Captain answered him he was so overcome that he fainted quite away into the bottom of his boat. Because this was what the Captain said:
"If you will do us the honor and the kindness and will be so good as to oblige us, we shall be more delighted than we have words to express."
Then they let down a rope ladder and a bottle of smelling salts and some eau de cologne to restore the Impolite Captain, and by the time he was restored and assisted up the rope ladder all the Polite Pirates were standing lined up on deck ready to receive him and his crew with low sweeping bows. Barty and the Good Wolf came forward together and Barty explained.
"They are like this," he said, "because they are polite pirates, and in time they are going to teach you to be polite too. It is really very much nicer."
Just at first they almost gibbered because they did not know what to say, but when they were taken below and allowed to wash the smoke and powder off their faces and hands, and then were given cups of tea and muffins and raspberry jam, and then were shown all over the beautiful ship, they could not help but begin to be calm. But because they had never seen anything like Baboo Bajorum and his crew before, they could not help staring, and they could not all keep their mouths shut at the same time. The bows and politeness quite made them jump sometimes, but it was plain they began to admire them, because it was not long before they began to try to remember to make bows themselves.
At last they were all sitting peacefully together on the deck, and the sun had gone down and the moon had risen. The ship had sailed back to the Desert Island again and was lying at anchor in the beautiful blue water, which was making a soft lap-lap-lapping sound against its side. Barty looked out at the green slope which led up the cliff to the cave, and suddenly he remembered how he had slept on the bed of leaves last night and how comfortable it had been, and he remembered, too, that the Polite Pirates had only invited him to tea. So he got up from his chair and went to Baboo Bajorum and bowed—this time he did it more beautifully than ever, and he did it six times.
"I am ever so much obliged to you, Mr. Bajorum," he said. "I enjoyed the battle so much and thank you for inviting me to the tea party. I have enjoyed myself so much that I am rather sleepy. Would you be so kind as to oblige us by letting us get into the boat and go back to the cave to bed?"
Baboo Bajorum patted him again and shook hands with him and was most polite. In fact, everybody was so polite and made so many bows—even the Impolite Pirates—that it took some time to get the boat launched. But at last it was on the water and everybody got safely down the ladder, and the Polite Pirates took their seats and began to row towards the shore and those who stayed on the ship raised a delightful cheer.
Barty sat close to the Good Wolf and laid his head against his furry neck. The sky looked dark blue and the water looked dark blue and the stars in the sky looked as if they were shining in the water, and Barty was so happy and drowsy that he could scarcely tell which was sea and which was sky.
When they reached the white beach the Polite Pirate Captain picked Barty up in his arms and carried him up the queer slope, and instead of crawling through the hole he carried him round the ledge and lifted him in through the window.
The moon was shining in on the sparkling white sand of the cave floor and it shone in on the soft, heaped up bed of leaves which looked delightful. Barty stood in the moonlight and rubbed his eyes.
"Thank you," he said to the Polite Pirate Captain. "There never was anything like you in Robinson Crusoe."
"Who was Robinson Crusoe?" asked the Captain, leaning on the window ledge.
"He was in a book," answered Barty. "It was a very nice book, but this is nicer," and he rubbed his eyes harder than ever.
Just then the Good Wolf came in through the passage. Blue Crest was on his back and Man Saturday came after.
The Polite Pirate Captain took his hat off with a grand flourish.
"Good-night," he said. "A thousand thanks for a most delightful and perfectly charming afternoon. Good-night." And he turned round and ran round the ledge and down the green slope.
"And just think how frightened we were," Barty said drowsily, as he crept onto the softest part of his leaf bed. "I never thought pirates could be so nice."
The Good Wolf made a jump and curled up beside him snugly. Saturday curled up and was asleep in two minutes, and Blue Crest was asleep in one. And the moon shone in at the cave window and the sound of the waves on the beach was a soft murmur.
"Did I hear you say that this was nicer than Robinson Crusoe?" asked the Good Wolf, just as Barty's eyes were closing.
"It is—nicer," answered Barty, drowsily. "But—I can't help thinking of that thing—I can't remember. What—is—it?"
"In the morning I will tell you," said the Good Wolf. And that very minute Barty's eyes shut and he could not see the white moonlight any longer because he was fast asleep.
In the morning he wakened as suddenly as he had fallen asleep. He sat up among the leaves and saw the Good Wolf looking at him.
"What is it?" he said. "I am thinking of it again. I must find out what it is."
"Come along and get your bath in the pool," said the Good Wolf, cheerfully, "you shall know then."
The morning was brighter and the sea and the sky even bluer than they had been the day before. The slope was like green velvet and the pool in the rocks as clear as green crystal. Barty splashed and clashed and swam about almost like a fish. But he could not help saying to himself, "What is it? What is it? I wonder what it is?"
When he had finished his bath and put on his clothes, he said it to the Good Wolf who was standing and looking at him as he had looked when he awoke.
"What is it? What is it?" he said. "I feel as if I were just going to remember."
The Good Wolf began to sniff the air gently.
"Is there any mignonette growing about here?" he said.
Barty gave a little sniff, too, and then a little jump. There was the scent of mignonette in the air and the last time he had smelt it had been when the Good Wolf had carried him away.
"It's my mother—my mother I was thinking of!" he cried out. "Why couldn't I remember. She'll be wondering where I am. I must go home this minute."
"There," said the Good Wolf. "All right. We will go home. The reason you could not remember was because I made you forget on purpose. If I had not done that you would have been wondering all the time whether you were not too far away and if she was looking for you, and you would not have enjoyed the Desert Island at all. I made her forget, too, so that she has not even missed you. She thinks you have only been playing in the woods a few hours. Has it been nicer than Robinson Crusoe?"
"Yes, yes!" cried Barty.
"Get on my back and shut your eyes," said the Good Wolf.
"I don't want to shut my eyes until I have looked round at the Desert Island again," said Barty. "It is a lovely Desert Island. Could Saturday and Blue Crest come with us?"
He said that because Saturday had come running up and Blue Crest was perched on a rock.
"They can if you like," said the Good Wolf, "but I think you had better leave them here. You will want them when you come back."
"Can I come back?" Barty shouted joyfully.
"Yes—whenever you ask me to bring you. This Desert Island will always be here. Jump upon my back quickly. Your mother is just beginning to remember you."
Barty jumped up, waving his hand to Saturday and Blue Crest.
"I'm coming back, I'm coming back," he said.
Then he laid his cheek on the Good Wolf's fur and clasped his arms round his neck and shut his eyes, and then he was fast asleep again.
When he wakened up he was standing in his own cottage garden, and he went into the cottage and his mother looked up from watering her flowers and smiled at him.
"I was just beginning to wonder where you were," she said. "What rosy cheeks you have. You do look as if you had been enjoying yourself."
And that is the end of this story.
