Down in the cabin a real tea was served at four o'clock, and if automobiling is conducive to real appetites, sailing leads to the port of hunger-pangs; and as an alleviative Orange Pekoe, cheese, cookies, lettuce sandwiches, with peanut butter and other conserves, can be heartily recommended, according to the Log of the Blowell, as inscribed that day by the True Treds.
"All hands on the deck," ordered Cleo, in mock severity, when cracker tins and tea cups were being worked to the point of refined cruelty.
"Aye, aye, sir," replied Grace, being first to reach deck.
"Shall we sing 'Starboard watch ahoy!' or 'Little Jack'?" Margaret asked.
"No, let's sing 'Sailing!'" suggested Julia.
"Who knows any of the words?" inquired Louise. "The title sounds appropriate, but it would take more words to fill out a tune!"
"Starboard watch ahoy! Starboard watch ahoy! And who can feel-e-e-eel, while on the blue the vessel ke-e-ell." This was Cleo's contribution done in all sharps, and as Louise warned them, the title wouldn't do for a girl-sized song.
"No, that's too old," objected Helen. "It's out of print. Try 'Sailing.'"
"The second line is just the same and ought to end in B"
"Full many a stormy wind shall blow o-o-oh when"
Thus ended Helen, and as a song "Sailing" was considered a first-rate joke.
"Now," said Margaret, in a plain everyday speaking voice, "I'm not going to spoil my 'Little Jack,' with any such parody as that. I'm going to recite him."
"I'm not sure I can recall all of it, but it's a pretty story--so--"
"Yes, Margy, a story is better than a song, tell it," begged Louise, settling down deeper in the leather cushions.
"But I may have to hum it, to get in rhyme," soliloquized the narrator.
"Yes, that's better still," cut in Cleo. "Give us the hum."
"Do be quiet, girls, or we will get neither song nor hum nor story," said Helen. "Go ahead, Margaret. Tell it your own way, as they say in court trials."
Again Margaret was directed to take up her Little Jack.
"It begins by calling the mates to come around-around-around----"
"Hearth on the sea!" cried Margaret in scorn.
"I'll fine the next girl who interrupts," announced Captain Mae. "Go on, Maggie."
"I'll skip the introduction, I have to," Margaret admitted, struggling with a laugh, "but I know these lines: