“Yes, and he’s a grand farmer, Father is! You ought to see him with his live stock. There isn’t a calf, or a pup, or a chicken, that he doesn’t know as well as you know me; and they know him, too. Oh, he’s friendly, is Dad—and he’s brave, too!”
Just as the “B. M.” of the watch was beginning to blow the call for prayers, Dick turned to Brown and said:
“Billy, if I were you, when I got scared in the water, I’d just roll right over on my back and float, and then wait till the scare blew over.”
“I’ll try it,” said Bill, and slipped down the companionway.
CHAPTER XXIII
The Four Square Club
At prayers the talk turned on fighting, and Brown got a little mixed as to how you could be friendly and fight at the same time.
“A fellow told me to-day, sir,” said he, “that being friendly helps your grit. I don’t see how you can fight without grit, nor how you can fight and be friendly at the same time.”
“That does seem funny,” answered the Chairman, “but haven’t you ever noticed, when fellows are fighting, that the fellow who gets mad and excited is apt to get the worst of it?”
“Well, I never thought of it, but maybe that’s so,” replied Brown.
“You bet it’s so!” exclaimed Chippie Smith. “It’s as bad as losing your wind, sir! You begin to hit wild—I know that’s right, Billy!”