"It's a kind of an
interesting situation. We have as much right on the scow as the land
has, as I see it----"
"Sure, you learn that in the third grade!" shouted Pee-wee. "That's
logic."
"Really, the best thing to do," drawled Townsend, "would be to remove
the land, which would let us down onto the scow and that would let you
out of the difficulty. We'd be answerable to the owner of the scow."
"It belonged to the big dredge," Pee-wee said excitedly. "I knew all
the men on that dredge; I used to hang out on that dredge; those men
were all friends of mine. We wouldn't be trespassing except your land
is in the way."
"If you want us to shovel the land out of here we'll do it," suggested
Roly Poly.
"Then the tree'll fall over," said Brownie.
"Gee whiz," shouted Pee-wee, "it'll serve the tree right because all
the time fellers are being accused of trespassing in apple trees and
now you can see for yourself that apple trees are just as bad. They
trespass on scows."
"We could have this tree fined ten dollars," said Billy, "if we wanted
to report it to the dredging company in New York."
"Or it would have to go to jail for thirty days," yelled Pee-wee.
"I don't see what we're going to do, Mr. Trimmer," said Townsend.
"I know what we're going to do," said Pee-wee; "we're going to do a lot
of things. We're natives of this island."
"We don't recognize this land," said Townsend; "we consider it beneath
us."
"Sure it's beneath us!" shouted Pee-wee.
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