The
introduction business isn't going to stand in my way."
"Well, may I ask," put in Abeuchapeta, "just what it is that is worrying
you? You said something about feeding them, and dressing them, and keeping
them in bonnets. I fancy there's fish enough in the sea to feed 'em; and
as for their gowns and hats, they can make 'em themselves. Every woman is
a milliner at heart."
"Exactly, and we'll have to pay the milliners. That is what bothers me. I
was going to lead this expedition to London, Paris, and New York, admiral.
That is where the money is, and to get it you've got to go ashore, to
headquarters. You cannot nowadays find it on the high seas. Modern
civilization," said Kidd, "has ruined the pirate's business. The latest
news from the other world has really opened my eyes to certain facts that
I never dreamed of. The conditions of the day of which I speak are
interestingly shown in the experience of our friend Hawkins here. Captain
Hawkins, would you have any objection to stating to these gentlemen the
condition of affairs which led you to give up piracy on the high seas?"
"Not the slightest, Captain Kidd," returned Captain Hawkins, who was a
recent arrival in Hades. "It is a sad little story, and it gives me a pain
for to think on it, but none the less I'll tell it, since you ask me. When
I were a mere boy, fellow-pirates, I had but one ambition, due to my
readin', which was confined to stories of a Sunday-school nater--to become
somethin' different from the little Willies an' the clever Tommies what I
read about therein.
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