Robert dropped the trowel.
“Gosh!” he gasped, and hastened indoors to investigate.
William went down to the gate, smiling very slightly to himself.
“The days are drawing out so pleasantly,” he was saying to himself in a mincing accent. “Vaseline—ammonia—er—or cold cream——Damn!”
He leant over the gate, took out his caterpillar, satisfied himself that it was still alive, put it back and looked up and down the road. In the distance he caught sight of the figure of his friend.
“Gin—ger,” he yelled in hideous shrillness.
He waved his coloured handkerchief carelessly in greeting as he called. Then he swaggered out into the road....
CHAPTER II
HENRI LEARNS THE LANGUAGE
It was Joan who drew William and the Outlaws from their immemorial practice of playing at Pirates and Red Indians.