"Oh, dry off and keep cool!" came from Whopper, and he allowed his oar to slip on purpose, sending a shower of water over the youth on the dock.
"Hi! hi! stop!" came angrily, as Ham backed away. "How dare you do such a thing!" and the dudish boy got out a silk handkerchief and began to wipe the water from his face and high collar.
"Excuse me," answered Whopper, drily. "I beg two million pardons, Ham. You see, I was holding the oar this way and I turned it so, and I—-well, I declare, there she goes again!" And once more poor Ham received a shower of water over his rather elegant suit.
"I'll—-I'll have, the constable lock you up!" spluttered the dudish boy, backing away rapidly. "This is—-er—-outrageous—-I'll—- I'll tell your folks!"
"That's right, be a tattle-tale!" came from Giant, and then he began to sing softly.
"Ham in the pan! Ham in the pan!
Ham's the best of meat!"
"Ham in the pan! Ham in the pan!
Ham is good and sweet!"
"You stop that!" roared Ham Spink, and then, as a dozen boys on the dock took up the darky song, he turned and strode away, with his rather short nose tilted high in the air.
"Do you think he'll call on our folks about this?" whispered Whopper, somewhat anxiously. "I shouldn't like to leave under a cloud."
"Oh! he hasn't got backbone enough to make trouble," answered
Shep. But Shep was mistaken, as we shall learn later.