"Why, Auntie!'" says Vee. "What's the matter?"
"Matter?" says Auntie, breathin' hard and chucklin' in between. "Why,
my dear child, I haven't done anything so absurd as this since--since I
was forty, and--and it has done me a world of good, I'm sure."
What do you know about that? Admits she carried on as late as forty!
And here I'd supposed she was born scowlin' about the time tabasco
sauce was invented. Well, once more I got to revise my ideas about
her. Maybe she ain't any frostier underneath than the rest of us.
"Allow me, Cornelia, to present you with the palm," says Mr. Ellins,
handin' her a palmetto leaf. "As a war dancer you betray evidence of
previous proficiency. Doesn't she, Torchy?"
"I'll bet she could have had Mrs. Sittin' Bull crowded into the back
drop," says I grinnin'.
And Auntie returns the grin.
You might know it would be Rupert who'd break the spell.
"I am wondering," says be, "just how we are going to get all this
treasure on board the yacht without the crew knowing all about it."
"Why wonder?" says Old Hickory. "Leave it to Torchy."
"Ah, say!" I protests.
"No alibis," insists Mr. Ellins, slappin' me encouragin' on the
shoulder. "Strategy is what we want from you, young man. Plenty of it
under that brilliant hair of yours.
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