"By the Twelve Ragged Apostles!" he murmured in an awed voice.
"There's a nigger in the woodpile."

"I very greatly fear," Mr. Skinner chattered, "that you are mistaken,
Mr. Ricks. Something tells me it's a German!"

"Well, well, well!" Matt Peasley sneered. "Skinner, take the head of
the class. Really, I believe I begin to pick up signs of human
intelligence in this sea of maritime ignorance."

"Oh, Matt, quit your jawing and break the news to me quickly," Cappy
pleaded.

"Haven't you been reading the papers, sir? Australian and Japanese
warships have been hunting for the German Pacific fleet for the past
few weeks, and the Germans have been on the dodge. Therefore, they've
been burning coal. They are only allowed to remain in a neutral port
twenty-four hours, and can only take on sufficient coal and stores to
enable them to reach the nearest German port. Consequently, since they
have been afraid to enter a neutral port, for fear of giving away
their position, it follows that they've had to stay at sea--and
naturally they have run short of coal. A few steamers have cleared
from San Francisco with coal, ostensibly for discharge at Chilean or
Mexican ports, but in reality for delivery to the German fleet at sea,
but even with these few deliveries, there is a coal famine. And now
that the Pacific is getting too hot for it, the general impression is
that the German fleet will try to get through the Straits of Magellan,
for, once in the Atlantic, coal will be easier to get. More ships, you
know; more ship-owners willing to take a chance for wartime