"Do you mean you went into the best parlor over to our house and--AND
TOOK THAT CAT IN WITH YOU?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well, I swan to man! Did you forget what I told you would happen if you
went into that parlor again? And especially if you lugged that cat in?
Did you forget that?"

"N-no, sir. I didn't forget it. You--you said I couldn't go to the
picnic."

Shadrach shook his head. "Well," he groaned, "if this don't beat the
nation! What under the sun did you do it for?"

"'Cause--'cause we wanted to play pirates with--with the swords and
things," faltered Mary-'Gusta. "And we took David 'cause he was goin' to
be one of the passengers on the ship we took. But," with a sudden return
to the main point at issue, "that proves David wasn't the cat he saw,
the one that stole his chicken."

The Captain looked at her. "By fire, it does, that's right," he
muttered. Abner Bacheldor roared in indignation.

"It don't prove nothin'," he cried. "All it proves is that the kid's a
liar. She's lyin' so's to save that dummed thief of a cat. All kids'll
lie when they think they can make somethin' out of it."

Shadrach grunted. "Maybe so," he said, "but I ain't caught this one in