"Sometimes."
"I see. Much jollier without, isn't it? But, you see, I can't go home like this. So perhaps you won't mind telling me why you stole my things and where they are?"
"Carr'ns don't steal," jerked one.
"Carr'ns only take things," jerked the other.
"I see. It's a fine point, but it comes to much the same thing unless you return what you take. So perhaps you'll be so good as to turn up my things. Where are they?"
One of the boys nodded towards the burrow.
"That's the stronghold, is it? Not much room to turn about in, I should say."
They declined to express an opinion.
"May I go in and have a look?"
But that was not in the terms of their parole, and they sprang instantly to the defence of their hold. The young man of the towel was beginning to wonder if another pitched battle would be necessary before he could recover his missing property, when a diversion was suddenly created by an innocent outsider.