Gizzard was not naturally timid. Rather was he inclined to be venturesome; and in addition to that he had carefully schooled himself to fear nothing that Sube was not afraid of. It was accordingly not long before he was able to force his unwilling tongue to say slighting things about Dr. Mossman. And, encouraged by Sube's contemptuous animadversions, he finally found himself saying that if the "Big Noise" should come botherin' around him, he'd lick him with one hand.
"Well, if that's the way you feel about it," remarked Sube, "what's to hinder our havin' a little swim in this mershum swimmin'-hole?"
Gizzard was taken completely by surprise. He had supposed that the episode would end with the villification of the minister. For a moment he was silent.
"What's the matter? Afraid?" taunted Sube.
"No, I ain't," replied Gizzard weakly.
"Will you go in if I will?"
"If you do, I will; but what'd we do if anybody should come in and catch us?" Gizzard equivocated.
"That's easy," blustered Sube. "We'd stay right in the water, and these two fellers would shut the thing up and duck under the seats with our duds, and wait till they went out again!"
It sounded so reasonable and so safe that Gizzard resisted no longer. And soon the two boys were floating about in the delightful depths of the baptistry. There was not a great deal of room for swimming, but they repeatedly expressed their unqualified approval of mershum as a pastime.
Cathead had done his best to keep the boys from going into the water, and he now began to urge them to come out.