"Blood! Oh, I wish I could do it like that! I say, we can play all kind of things, can't we?
We'll be pirates--only good pirates,--and we'll scour the seas, and save all the shipwrecked people, won't we?
And you shall be the captain (or you might call it admiral, if you liked the sound better, I often do), and I will be the mate, or the prisoners, or the drowning folks, just as you like.

I love to play things." "Come to my heart, angelic child!" cried Franci, flinging out his arms once more.

"At length I am understood, I am appreciated, I have found a comrade! That I weep on thy bosom, Colorado!" And, much to the disgust of Rento, he fell upon John's neck, and shed, or appeared to shed, a few tears, with great parade of silk handkerchief.

He then advanced to where the Skipper was smoking his cigar in the stern, and informed him, with a low bow, that he and Colorado were one soul, which the Skipper said he was delighted to hear, adding that he recommended the one soul to set the two bodies to work cleaning the brasses.
Franci liked to clean the brasses, because he could see his face in them, and make eyes at himself as he went along; accordingly he turned three back-somersaults, a sign of high good-humour with him, and returned to his new friend.
"Have you noticed, Colorado," he inquired, "the contour of my leg?
Did you observe it now, quivering in the air ?" John nodded appreciation, and wondered how old Franci was.
"To possess beauty," said the latter, gravely, "is a responsibility, my friend.

It is a burden, my soul! Franci has shed tears over it, the tears of a poet.