"Look here, young man, you've done enough trampin' fer a while. Let that lazy feller down there go. I guess his clothes are dry by this time. If they ain't, then a little touch of this breeze'll finish the job."
Billy, however, was loth to go, and said that he didn't feel well. He preferred to stay where he was.
"Sick, are ye?" and Abner turned suddenly upon him. "Well, it's fer the good of ye'r health that I'm askin' ye to take this little jant. If ye stay here ye'll be a darn sight sicker than ye are at present, let me tell ye that."
Something about Abner's voice and manner made Billy realise that he must obey. Slowly he rose to his feet and stretched himself.
"Confound it all!" he growled. "Why can't a fellow have a minute's peace!"
"Peace! Peace!" Abner roared, now thoroughly disgusted. "I'll give ye a kind of peace ye ain't lookin' fer, an' that'll be a piece of me boot. That's the only kind the likes of you understand. Hustle along there now, an' don't dilly-dally."
The two men watched Billy as he sauntered leisurely along the shore, picking his way among the stones.
"Well, if that don't beat the Dutch!" Abner exclaimed. "I wonder what the Lord was thinkin' of when he made sich a critter."
"He must be fond of making that kind, though," Royden replied. "He has a long list to His credit."
Abner pulled out his pipe, filled and lighted it. He then stretched himself out upon the ground in such a position that he could keep his eye upon Billy, who was now some distance away.