"
"But he said an Arabian Knight," persisted Trot.
"Well, if he went to Araby, or was born there, he'd be an Arabian
Knight, wouldn't he? The lad's gran'ther were prob'ly a furriner,
an' yours an' mine were, too, Trot, if you go back far enough; for
Ameriky wasn't diskivered in them days."
"There!" said Trot triumphantly. "Didn't I tell you, Button-Bright,
that Cap'n Bill knows ever'thing?"
"He knows a lot, I expect," soberly answered the boy, finishing the
last slice of bread-and-butter and then looking at the empty plate
with a sigh. "But if he really knows ever'thing, he knows about the
Magic Umbrella, so I won't have to tell you anything about it."
"Magic!" cried Trot with big, eager eyes. "Did you say MAGIC Umbrel,
Button-Bright?"
"I said 'Magic.' But none of our family knew it was a Magic Umbrella
till I found it out for myself. You're the first people I've told
the secret to," he added, glancing into their faces rather uneasily.
"Glory me!" exclaimed the girl, clapping her hands in ecstacy. "It
must be jus' ELEGANT to have a Magic Umbrel!"
Cap'n Bill coughed. He had a way of coughing when he was suspicious.
"Magic," he observed gravely, "was once lyin' 'round loose in the
world. That was in the Dark Ages, I guess, when the magic Arabian
Nights was. But the light o' Civilization has skeered it away long
ago, an' magic's been a lost art since long afore you an' I was
born, Trot.
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