Just as Jethro is painting the finishing touches on the sign for the Jolly Sailor, Captain Crab jostles his ladder, causing an ugly black streak. Tearing after Crab to confront him, Jethro is met with an alibi: Crab was chasing his boat, adrift because a goat has just chewed through the rope. Pursuing his way up and down the steep streets of the Cornish village from one supposed miscreant to another, Jethro finally comes back to a first cause: himself--his paint dribbled on the best jacket of Mr. Herring, who, back on page one, exited the pub en route to his daughter's wedding. Mr. Herring had shouted, making the cat jump under the baker's boy's bike, etc., etc. It all makes an amusing way to tour this picturesque British seaside village and meet the locals, skillfully evoked in Corfield's detailed illustrations. An entertaining Rube Goldberg of a tall tale. (Picture book. 4-9)
