"Oh, hard work be hanged!" exclaimed the lad joyously.  "I'm not afraid of hard work, as you very well know, Dick.  And it will be simply glorious to get away from the taut discipline of the _Shark_ for a little while, to say nothing of the possibility of another such adventure as your last.  But a pirate won't have it all his own way this time if he attempts to meddle with us, I can tell you, for the schooner mounts eight long nines, and carries a long eighteen on her forecastle. I say, Grenvile, can't we manage to have a little cruise on our own account?  The skipper would forgive us, I'm sure, if we were lucky enough to take in a prize or two."