“Well,” he began again, “you s-see, we were all going to B-Big D-Duck for a month, an’ F-Father said—­oh! our name is K-K-Kidd, you know,—­the K-Kidd kids,—­th-there! everybody has to spring that old chestnut about us, because they think it’s f-funny.  It’s so old it’s m-m-mouldy, but we might as well s-say it and g-g-get it over with!  W-Well, we were all going to Big D-D-Duck, s-s-same’s we do every s-summer.  B-But F-Father got awful cranky ’cause we f-fell behind at s-school last year, and he m-mapped out a p-p-programme of entertainments f-for us this s-summer that didn’t strike us as—­as—­as exactly oh! as exactly b-b-bully, you know...  In f-fact, it was b-b-bum!  S-Studying about all s-summer...  S-Say, w-won’t you f-freeze?”

I thought I might do so, myself, so I took off my wet clothes, and spread them out in the sun.  Then I went below, found my bag, brought it up on deck, and began to dress again.  He went on, in the meantime, with his story.

“Well, F-Father didn’t c-c-confess his f-foul p-plot till the very d-day we were going to Big D-Duck.  That was—­it was—­oh, when was it, S-S-Spike?”

“It was—­er—­I’m all mixed up about time,” said Spike.

“S-Same here,” replied the other.

“It was day before yesterday,—­Tuesday,” Spike finally remarked.

“T-Tuesday.  That’s right.  W-Well, F-Father g-gave us this awful j-j-jolt at l-l-luncheon.  Th-That was F-Father’s idea of m-making m-m-merry.  It didn’t t-t-tickle us m-most to d-death, s-s-somehow.  We t-talked it over that afternoon, out in the b-barn, and we decided to k-k-k-k-quit.  We’d t-take the b-boat ourselves, and—­”

“We were all going to sail over to Big Duck in a cat-boat, you know.  Father hires a boat every summer.”

“S-Say, S-S-Spike, g-go ahead, if you want to.”

“I don’t.  You go on,—­you’re getting there all right.  You’ll come to the point in an hour or two.”

“W-Well, I aint c-c-crazy about it, you know...  W-Well, we were all going, the whole f-family, in a new cat-boat that belongs to C-Captain B-Bill P-P-P-Prendergast.  We hadn’t seen her, ’cause he’s had her over at P-Porpoise Island all s-summer, taking out s-sailing p-parties.  F-Father said she was d-down at W-W-Woodwell’s Wharf—­C-C-Captain B-Bill had brought her over in the morning, and then he’d gone back to P-Porpoise Island.  He was engaged to c-c-cook c-c-clam chowders at the American House.  W-We were going to sail her over to Big D-Duck—­S-S-Spike and I—­w-w-while F-Father m-messed around and th-thought he was running the whole s-s-show.  That was his p-p-p-plan.  B-B-But we decided to nip his g-g-game in the b-b-b-bud, b-b-b-b-(oh! hang it!) b-b-by sneakin’ down ahead of the f-family, and just sailing away on that b-boat, and embarking on a c-c-career of pup-pup-pup-piracy!”

“You see,” said Spike, “we got so sick of all this Kidd talk that we thought we might as well get something out of it.”