"Did ye say rabbits?"
"Lop-ears," said Nestie after a moment's silence, and Speug was more confounded than he had ever been in all his blameless life.
"Ernest Molyneux, div ye kin whar ye 'ill go to if ye tell lees."
"I'm telling the t-truth, Speug, and I never tell lies, but sometimes I compose t-tales. Lop-ear rabbits, and he feeds them himself."
"Will ye say 'as sure as death'?"—for this was with us the final test of truth.
"As sure as death," said Nestie, and that afternoon Speug had so much to think about that he gave almost no heed when Bulldog discovered him with nothing on the sheet before him except a remarkably correct drawing of two lop-eared rabbits.
Speug and Nestie crossed the North Meadow together after school, and before they parted at the bridge Nestie entreated the favour of a visit in his new home that evening from Speug; but, although modesty was not Speug's prevailing characteristic, he would on no account accept the flattering invitation. Maybe he was going to drive with his father, who was breaking-in a new horse, or maybe he was going out on the river in a boat, or maybe the stable gates were to be shut and the fox turned loose for a run, or maybe——
"Nestie whispered something in Speug's ear."