“Or the sedges, where it’s drier.”
“Foxes lie in withy beds—why should not this?”
“Of course: but I say—only think, we may have gone within reach of its paw ten times.”
“While we were lying down too,” said Bevis, “in ambush It might have been in the ferns close behind.”
“All the times we walked about and never took the gun,” said Mark; “or the bow and arrow, or the axe, or anything—and just think! Why we came back from the raft without even a stick in our hands.”
“Yes—it was silly: and we came quietly too, to try and see it.”
“Well, we just were stupid!” said Mark. “Only we never thought It could be anything big.”
“But It must be.”
“Of course It is: we won’t go out again without the gun, and the axe—”
“And my bow to shoot again, because you can’t load a matchlock quick.”