"And so he hev, ma'am," put in Trenchard. "Him and his friend hev worked on the land, and done inventions as well, and one of 'em saved my root crops, it did. I'm not the man to say anything against inventions."
"I am glad to hear you have invented something useful, Robert. Was that tar entanglement that your friend spoke of also an invention of yours?"
"Well, yes, Aunt, it was," said Templeton, somewhat embarrassed. "It was an idea for worrying the Germans, you know. But, of course—here's Tom, he'll explain better than I can."
"Oh, I say!" protested Eves, who had just come in. Then he began to laugh. "My word! He did look funny—tar from head to foot. You see, Miss Templeton, we got rid of that ruffian Smail once by means of stinks—I mean, sulphuretted hydrogen, a gas very useful in chemistry. Then, suspecting he'd come back, it occurred to me that we might teach him a lesson by putting into practice Bob's idea of a tar entanglement. It really worked out splendidly. Noakes—he's a bad egg——"
"A what?" asked the lady.
"A bad man, ma'am. He and Smail came up, and we let off the guns just to encourage 'em, and they fell slap on their faces in the lane over there, and I'm sure they won't get the tar off for a month."
"You gave Mr. Noakes my message?"
"Yes."
"And he said he would come, no doubt."
"I'm sorry to say, ma'am, he swore like a trooper. But in the circumstances I dare say you would have done the same—not you, of course. I didn't mean that; I mean any one—that is, any man."