“O! that’s nothing.”
“I’ve half a mind to tell—I don’t believe you’re up to anything good.”
“Pooh! don’t be a donk,” said Bevis. “I’ll give you a long piece of this ribbon when I come back.”
Off he went, having bribed Scylla, but he met Charybdis in the gateway, where he came plump on the Bailiff.
“What’s up now?” he gruffly inquired.
“Picnic.”
“Mind you don’t go bathing; the waves be as big as cows.”
“Bathing,” said Bevis, with intense contempt. “We don’t bathe in the evening. Here, you—” donk, he was going to say, but forebore; he gave the Bailiff a summer apple, and went on. The Bailiff bit the apple, muttered to himself about “mischief,” and walked towards the rick-yard. In a minute Mark came to meet Bevis.
“You did him?” he said.
“Yes,” said Bevis, “and Polly too.”