Ha ! ' laughed the ghost , and having peeped through the keyhole at the princesses spinning away for dear life , the evil spirit picked up her victim and put him in a large tin box , where there were eleven other knights packed together without their heads , like sardines , who all rose and began to ... '' `` Dance a hornpipe , '' cut in Fred , as Jo paused for breath , `` and , as they danced , the rubbishy old castle turned to a man-of-war in full sail . ` Up with the jib , reef the tops ' l halliards , helm hard alee , and man the guns ! ' roared the captain , as a Portuguese pirate hove in sight , with a flag black as ink flying from her foremast . ` Go in and win , my hearties ! ' says the captain , and a tremendous fight began . Of course the British beat -- they always do . '' `` No , they do n't ! '' cried Jo , aside . `` Having taken the pirate captain prisoner , sailed slap over the schooner , whose decks were piled high with dead and whose lee scuppers ran blood , for the order had been ` Cutlasses , and die hard ! ' ` Bosun 's mate , take a bight of the flying-jib sheet , and start this villain if he does n't confess his sins double quick , ' said the British captain . The Portuguese held his tongue like a brick , and walked the plank , while the jolly tars cheered like mad . But the sly dog dived , came up under the man-of-war , scuttled her , and down she went , with all sail set , ` To the bottom of the sea , sea , sea ' where ... '' `` Oh , gracious ! What shall I say ? '' cried Sallie , as Fred ended his rigmarole , in which he had jumbled together pell-mell nautical phrases and facts out of one of his favorite books . `` Well , they went to the bottom , and a nice mermaid welcomed them , but was much grieved on finding the box of headless knights , and kindly pickled them in brine , hoping to discover the mystery about them , for being a woman , she was curious . By-and-by a diver came down , and the mermaid said , ` I 'll give you a box of pearls if you can take it up , ' for she wanted to restore the poor things to life , and could n't raise the heavy load herself . So the diver hoisted it up , and was much disappointed on opening it to find no pearls . He left it in a great lonely field , where it was found by a. . . ''
`` Little goose girl , who kept a hundred fat geese in the field , '' said Amy , when XXXXX 's invention gave out .
British Jo Portuguese Sallie alee hearties hornpipe jib rigmarole tars