MUTINY ON BOARD
For some time the children leaned over the rail looking back at the
group of cats gathered at the water's edge. The form of the Pirate
Chief towered above them all as he ran up and down the beach yowling
out all sorts of commands to which was paid very little attention by
any one, and stopping every little while to flourish an angry paw in
the direction of the _Merry Mouser_.
Peter regarded him sadly. "Poor old Mitts," he sighed, "it was an
awful mean trick to play on him! He hasn't got any other boat and he
looks so mad, I b'lieve he'd swim after us if he could."
"He could, all right," said Prowler gravely, "but he'd get his paws
wet, and that's a serious thing, you know."
Rudolf and Ann burst out laughing, and even Peter smiled, for it
seemed to them a funny thing for a pirate to fuss about.
"Now," exclaimed Rudolf, as the breeze freshened and the forms of the
cat pirates began to fade from sight, "there's a great deal to be
attended to. What do you think we'd better get at first?"
"My pink pajamas!" cried Prowler, leaping in the air and turning a
double somersault in his delight.
"My paper collars!" shouted Growler, following his example.
Rudolf was disgusted with the two mates for thinking of such nonsense
at a time like this, but it was no use trying to do anything with
them. They left the _Merry Mouser_ to his management, and rushed below
to bring up the False Hare's suit case. When they returned they were
followed by the two spotted sailors whom they introduced to the
children as Toddles and Towser. Toddles and Towser were still very
sleepy. They had managed to free themselves by chewing the string that
bound their paws, but they did not seem at all disturbed by the change
in affairs or inclined to make any trouble.
Rudolf placed them both at the wheel with stern directions to keep
each other awake if possible. He then went below to see if he could
find his sword before either Growler or Prowler should take a fancy to
it. It was hanging up over Captain Mittens' berth, and under the
Chief's pillow, neatly folded ready for the night, Rudolf found
Peter's pajamas. As they were quite dry now, he called Peter and
insisted on his putting them on, much against the little boy's
wishes, for hot and tight and furry as his borrowed suit had been,
Peter had felt gloriously like a pirate in it! Very sulkily he
followed his brother out of the cabin, but when the two had mounted to
the deck Peter's sulks gave way to a burst of giggles at the sight of
Growler and Prowler.
Ann was sitting on the deck quite weak with laughter, while the two
mates, dressed in their stolen finery, paraded up and down in front of
her. Prowler's pink pajamas were a better fit for him than Growler's
paper collar which nearly concealed his pirate's nose, only the points
of his whiskers and the tips of his black ears showing. Ann had added
to his costume by the loan of her blue hair-ribbon which she had tied
in a nice bow on the tip of his tail. But Prowler, if possible, looked
even more silly than Growler, for he copied the actions of Captain
Mittens as closely as he could, folding his paws on his chest and
scowling gloomily about him. He seemed extremely vexed when the
children laughed, but they really could not help it, since a pirate in
pink pajamas is not particularly dreadful. At last, after much
coaxing, Rudolf got the whole party to sit down in a circle on the
deck and consult with him on some plan of action.
"We _must_ make up our minds," said he firmly, "on where we are going,
and what is the nearest land, and what we are going to do when we get
there, and who is in command of the _Merry Mouser_, anyway, and--"
Here he was interrupted by Prowler who said would he please go a
little slower, for Rudolf was making his head ache and it reminded him
of going to his aunt's to say his catechism.
"The thing ter do," drawled Growler sleepily, "is ter do nothin' 'tall
till ye git somewheres where somethin's gotter be did, an' then
like's not it's too late ter do anything an' all yer trouble's saved
for ye!"
Rudolf did not think much of this as advice, but Prowler seemed
delighted. "Hurrah, my hearties!" he shouted, and up he jumped, stood
on his furry head on the deck, and waved his pink pajamaed legs in the
air. "Now we can have our tea!" he cried.
The faces of the three children brightened at the pleasant thought of
tea, and when the tray arrived, carried by Towser, Ann asked if she
might pour.
"Paw away!" cried Prowler, grinning widely as he fixed his round
yellow eyes on a small covered dish that Toddles had just set before
him.
Ann lifted the cover of the tea-pot to peep inside but as she sniffed
the steam an expression of disgust wrinkled up her little nose.
"Ugh!" she cried, "it's catnip tea."
"Course it is," answered Prowler calmly. "Catnip tea and stewed
mouses' tails--an' I asks what could anybody want nicer?"
"Little girls that don't like what's put before 'em can go without.
Ever hear anything like that before?" asked Growler sweetly, and as he
spoke he reached over and took the covered dish away from Prowler and
helped himself to it largely.
"But we don't any of us like this kind of a tea!" cried Rudolf
angrily.
"Then all the more for us that does," said Prowler, and he snatched
the dish in his turn away from Growler and emptied all that was left
of it on his own plate. Since there was nothing else for the children
to do, they sat and watched the two mates eat, all of them feeling
decidedly cross, especially Peter. When every drop was finished and
every crumb licked up, Growler said to Prowler, "Time for a nap, old
boy," and without so much as a look in the children's direction the
two rude fellows turned tail and marched off arm in arm to their
bunks.
"Well, they _are_ nice!" cried Ann. "And what are _we_ going to do, I
would like to know?"
"What we are going to do," said Rudolf thoughtfully, "is probably to
be shipwrecked. Oh, not _right_ away," he added quickly as he saw how
frightened his little sister looked. "But there's land close ahead, as
sure as sure can be, and, if I'm not much mistaken, Toddles and Towser
have both gone to sleep at the wheel."
It was true. The two common sea-cats had left the wheel to take care
of itself and had curled themselves up in a soft round ball on the
deck for a nap from which the children found it impossible to arouse
them.
"I will try to steer and also mind the sheet, I think that's what it's
called," said Rudolf, "but as I don't know _much_ about sailing a boat
except what I've read in books, and you and Peter don't know
_anything_, I think the least we'll do will be to run her aground."
"Let's try to wake Growler and Prowler up," Ann begged. "They can't be
sound asleep yet."
The two mates were not only sound asleep but snoring loudly. Ann and
Peter tried shaking them, spanking them, even drenching them with the
cold remains of the catnip tea, but it was all no use, they could not
get them to stir. Meanwhile the _Merry Mouser_ was drifting
dangerously near land, in spite of all Rudolf could do to prevent her.
He did several things and he ordered Peter and Ann to do a good many
others, but all of them felt glad the False Hare was not there to
compliment them on their seamanship. At last there came a dull shock
and a jar, and the _Merry Mouser_ ran her nose into a sand-bar,
quivered all over, and then stood still.
"The thing to do _now_" said Rudolf easily, just as if he had planned
it all, "is for us to get into the little boat we are towing and row
ourselves ashore. Of course we must wake up the mates and the crew and
take them with us."
It was simply astonishing the things those children had to do to
Growler and Prowler before they could get either of them so much as to
open an eye! When they were at last able to understand what had
happened, they merely turned over and growled out: "Oh, is _that_ all?
Aground, are we? Ye needn't have waked us up for _that_! Be off as
soon as ye like and give us some rest--do!" They had hardly left off
speaking before they were sound asleep again. As for Toddles and
Towser they refused to wake at all.
The children left them where they lay and climbed Over the side of the
_Merry Mouser_ into the little rowboat which Rudolf had brought
alongside. When all were safely aboard, he cut loose the tow-rope,
took the oars, and pulled away from the pirate ship. After a short and
pleasant row they reached a gently shelving beach where it was not
difficult to make a landing.
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