"I dare say you do," said Dick, with a laugh. "But I don't want to be shown—at least not at this end of the day. Try me when we meet again."
"Um," said Jim. Yet he tugged hard and insistently at Dick's sleeve, and there was in his cunning eyes a depth of meaning that impressed Dick in spite of himself.
A spirit of adventure seized the Captain of Foxenby, and a moonlight visit to the hills, on that ideal evening, did not lack attraction for him. Still, he made one more effort to disengage himself from Fluffy Jim's grasp.
"Run away and play, Jim, that's a good boy," he urged. "Your penny show will wait awhile."
"No," said Jim, with quite convincing decision. "Coom now! Want to show thee summat!"
Curiosity got the upper hand of Dick. He pushed back from his mind the repressive thought of Mr. Rooke, who had bidden him return early, and motioned to Fluffy Jim to lead on. There was something rather whimsical in the idea of the Captain of Foxenby playing truant, for all the world like a roving imp from the Junior School!
Off set Fluffy Jim in high feather, making for the moors as fast as he could pull one heavy hobnailed boot after the other. He looked an odd figure of fun in the moonlight, but Dick knew better than to laugh.
"You know, Jim, you did me out of a goal as clean as a whistle in that cup final at Walsbridge," Dick took the opportunity of reminding him.
"Um," grunted Jim.
"Why did you butt in? You robbed us of the cup, Jim."