"Oh, it's all wrong," said Jack impatiently. "It's a boy in the real story."
"Didn't I tell you mine was a new version? Now listen and don't interrupt——"
Mr. Treherne leant back in his chair, listening with a smile to the argument between father and son as he smoked his pipe; Mrs. Treherne had gone off into the house, whilst Betty, after setting the table afresh for Ted who would be late that evening as he was bringing home a mob of cattle, seated herself in the shadow, where she could watch the Captain and Jack without interruption.
"There was once a man," began the Captain over again, "who looked round the world, and noticed what a lot of giants had been conquered, and wondered within himself what was left for him to do."
"No giants he could kill?" asked Jack excitedly, "Were those others all deaded?"
"Not deaded; they were caught and held in bondage, made to serve their masters, which was ever so much better than killing them."
"What were their names?"
"Water was the name of one of them."
Jack stirred uneasily. "Now you're greening me, father"—the term was Uncle Ted's.
The Captain laughed. "Didn't I tell you this was a true story? Water was so big a giant that for years and years men looked at it, and did not try to do much with it. The great big seas——"