` It 's like the shadows talking , is n't it ? ' said Una . She had given up trying to read . Dan lay over the bows , trailing his hands in the current . They heard feet on the gravel-bar that runs half across the pool and saw Sir Richard Dalyngridge standing over them . ` Was yours a dangerous voyage ? ' he asked , smiling . ` She bumped a lot , sir , ' said Dan . ` There 's hardly any water this summer . ' ` Ah , the brook was deeper and wider when my children played at Danish pirates . Are you pirate-folk ? ' ` Oh no . We gave up being pirates years ago , ' explained Una . ` We 're nearly always explorers now . Sailing round the world , you know . ' ` Round ? ' said Sir Richard . He sat him in the comfortable crotch of an old ash-root on the bank . ` How can it be round ? ' ` Was n't it in your books ? '
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Dalyngridge Dan Danish Richard Una ash-root books crotch gravel-bar round