While he threw his broad brim in one direction and his broad coat in another, and gave way to peals of laughter, Headlong Hal said: "Cap'n, I don't know what you think of it, but I think it just as churlish to laugh alone as to get drunk in solitude."
"Oh, you shall laugh! You shall all laugh! Wait until I tell you! But first, answer me: Does not my broad-skirted gray coat and broad-brimmed gray hat make me look about twelve inches shorter and broader?"
"That's so, cap'n!"
"And when I bury my black beard and chin deep down in this drab neck-cloth, and pull the broad brim low over my black hair and eyes, I look as mild and respectable as William Penn?"
"Yea, verily, friend Donald," said Hal.
"Well, in this meek guise I went peddling to-day!"
"Aye, cap'n, we knew it; and you'll go once too often!"
"I have gone just once too often!"
"I knew it!"
"We said so!"
"D----n!" were some of the ejaculations as the members of the band sprang to their feet and handled secret arms.
"Pshaw! put up your knives and pistols! There is no danger. I was not traced--our rendezvous is still a secret for which the government would pay a thousand dollars!"
"How, then, do you say that you went once too often, cap'n?"
"It was inaccurate! I should have said that I had gone for the last time, for that it would not be safe to venture again. Come--I must tell you the whole story! But in the mean time let us have supper. Mother Raven, dish the beef! Dick, draw the ale! Hal, cut the bread! Steve, carve! Bestir yourselves, burn you, or you shall have no story!" exclaimed the captain, flinging himself into a chair at the head of the table.
When his orders had been obeyed, and the men were gathered around the table, and the first draught of ale had been quaffed by all, Black Donald asked: "Where do you think I went peddling to-day?"
"Devil knows," said Hal.
"That's a secret between the Demon and Black Donald" said Dick.
"Hush! he's about to tell us," murmured Steve.
"Wooden heads! you'd never guess! I went--I went to--do you give it up? I went right straight into the lion's jaws--not only into the very clutches, but into the very teeth, and down the very throat of the lion, and have come out as safe as Jonah from the whale's belly! In a word, I have been up to the county seat where the court is now in session, and sold cigar cases, snuff boxes and smoking caps to the grand and petit jury, and a pair of gold spectacles to the learned judge himself!"