His hat was floating near him. Johnnie Green snatched it up, scooped it full of water and clapped it upon Red's head.
Even then Red didn't say a word.
But when Snowball looked blandly down at the boys from the great flat rock and said, "Baa-a-a!"—then Red spoke.
He spoke his mind very freely and at some length. And he dared Johnnie to come out upon the bank with him.
Johnnie Green promptly swam towards the bank where Snowball stood.
"Not that side!" cried Red. "The other one!"
But Johnnie remarked mildly that he supposed of course Red meant the side towards home. "You've got all your clothes on," said Johnnie. "You wouldn't want to have to cross the brook, later, and get them wet."
Now, since Red's clothes were as wet as clothes could be, that seemed a very stupid remark. And Red told Johnnie Green—well, he told him a number of things. And then Red scrambled up the opposite bank from the one where Snowball stood, and started off, leaving a trail of water behind him.
Johnnie Green and his friends forsook the swimming hole and took their clothes out upon the flat rock, which was warm in the sunshine. And there they spent a pleasant time untying the knots that Red had made in them. But first the boys made Johnnie Green drive Snowball away.
"Red will catch it when he gets home," said one of them. "His father told him not to go swimming to-day."