"Ho! Catch on to the Blackguard sucking up to Sam!"
"Triplet. I'm a man, and you're a nasty trick played on your mother."
The sentiment was cheered.
"And now," said I, "my little friends, I'm going to break out in a new place. I've got religion, and I don't propose to let you pollute my holy peace by using bad words, unless you think you can lick me."
"Why, dammit!" howled Red Saunders, who had the foulest mouth in the troop.
"My erring brother," said I.
"You go to 'ell!"
He dived, and fully dressed as I was I followed, holding him under water by his gaudy hair until he made signs for peace. Then he came up spluttering to breathe.
"But 'ow the devil—"
I told him not to brag about his father, then called him a catechumen, which knocked him out.