David kicked himself into a perpendicular position and trod water.
“Well, I’m getting older as quick as I can,” he said in self-defence. “Blast! I wish it could go on for ever.”
“What?”
“As if you didn’t know! Being in the sea, and being with you, and being alive, and so on.”
“Same here,” said Frank. “Lord, but I wish I could be the sea as well.”
“Rather jam. But I don’t think I’d allow everybody to bathe in me,” said David. “Dogs, yes, and some people, not all. Or should we charge a shilling, and let anybody?”
Maddox pushed himself upright in the water.
“’Fraid we ought to come out,” he said. “It must be latish. I’ll race you to shore.”
“Right oh. Give me twenty yards start.”
“Measure them very carefully,” said Frank.