"It's old Hand
that ought to get the licking we were going to give you. But we'll
have to pound you a little for his sake and your own too!"
"No, Hutchings," said Will, after a moment's thought. "You deserve
a licking, but we'll let you off. Only take warning. I'll blame old
Hand this time, and you can let him know he's likely to hear from us
about this, and about last night's work. But as for you, if we catch
you fooling round this dike again, you'll be sorry as long as you live.
We're on the watch for you and the likes of you. And over yonder I've
got my gun, in case there were more than one of you in the scrape."
"We've loaded her up, both barrels," said Ted, maliciously, "with
big charges of bird shot, so she'll scatter well and everybody get
his share!"
By this time Jim Hutchings was on his feet.
"Now clear out!" was Will's peremptory direction.
Hutchings started back toward the dike to get his spade.
"No, you don't," laughed Ted. "That's confiscated!'"
"Never mind the spade!" said Will, firmly, as Hutchings hesitated.
"We'll keep it and try and find some use for it!"
The fellow would have liked to contest the point, but he remembered
the feeling of Will's grip. With an oath he turned on his heel and
made for the uplands. Then the boys went back to the dike, possessed
themselves of the spade, and repaired the slight damage that had
been done.
"Shall we stay any longer?" asked Ted, again getting sleepy.
"No, I fancy we won't be bothered this way any more!" answered Will.
Pages:
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122