"If y've got one! Y'don't find 'em growin' in th' bush. Why can't y' learn offa me now, an' be proper. Ye'll be such an awful sukey when y'goes out campin', y'll shame y'self. Y'should wash y'hands first. Frow away th' water if y'not short, but y' will be. Then when y've got y'hands all soapy, sop y' fyce up an' down, not round an' round like a cat does. Then pop y' nut under th' pump an' wring it dry. Don't never waste y' huckaback on it. Y'll want that f' somefin' else."
"What else shall I want my towel for?"
"Wroppin' up things in, meat an' damper, an't'lay down for y'meal, against th' ants, or to put over it against th' insex."
Then from Tom.
"Hey, nipper knowall, dry up! I've taught you the way you should behave, haven't I? Well, I can teach Jack Grant, without any help from you. Skedaddle!"
"Hope y' can! Sorry for y', havin' to try," said Len as he skedaddled.
Tom was the head of the clan, and the others gave him leal obedience and a genuine, if impudent homage.
"What a funny kid!" said Jack. "He's different from the rest of you, and his lingo's rotten."
"He's not dif!" said Tom. "'Xactly same. Same's all of us—same's all the nips round here. He went t' same school as Monica and Grace an' me, to Aunt's school in th' settlement, till Dr. Rackett came. If he's any different, he got it from him: he's English."
Jack noticed they always spoke of Dr. Rackett as if he were a species of rattlesnake that they kept tame about the place.