“You'll not thump me if I can help it,” said our hero to himself.
Joe put out his hand and felt a cask near by. It was half filled with dirty water, being used for the purposes of making mortar. A tub of water was beside the cask.
“Tit for tat!” he thought, and as quickly as it could be done he overturned the cask and the tub followed.
Joe's aim was perfect, and down came the shower of dirty water, directly on the heads of the boys below. Every one was saturated and each set up a yell of dismay.
“Oh, say, I'm soaked!”
“He trun water all over me!”
“Ugh! but dat's a regular ice bath, dat is!”
“That's what you get for throwing me into the hole!” cried Joe. “After this you had better leave me alone.”
“I've got some mortar in me eye!” screamed Jack Sagger, dancing around in pain. “Oh, me eye is burned out!”
“I'm wet to de skin!” said Nick Sammel, with a shiver. “Oh, say, but it's dead cold, ain't it?”