"Well, say it again," responded Master Fred, in a most tantalizing way. "I like to hear you."
Applethwaite Plunkit was not a nice looking boy at all. He had perfectly white hair, but he wasn't an albino, for albinoes have pink-rimmed eyes. His eyes were very strange looking, however, for they were not mates. One was one color, and one was another.
There are many such afflicted people in the world; usually they have one gray eye and one brown one. But Ap Plunkit had one eye that was of a sickly brown color, while the other was of a sickly green. That means that the "whites" of his mismated eyes were yellowish in hue.
Perhaps, because of this misfortune, the other boys plagued him, and that had soured his temper. He was very angry with Fred.
"Get out of that tree, you red-headed monkey!" he shouted, "or I'll set my dog on you!"
"I won't do it, you white-headed donkey—and your dog can't get me; not unless he can climb a tree," added Fred, grinning again.
"I'll come over there and knock you out of it," threatened Ap.
"I'd like to see you do it," responded Fred, swinging his feet again.
"I'll show you!" cried Ap, and he started for the hole in the fence. "Come on, Rove!" he called to the dog.
The big dog followed his master. He was part Newfoundland and would have made a fine playmate for any boy, if he had not been trained to be ugly with all strangers. When he got through the fence and saw Bobby standing idly by, he growled at him.