"Then it will be the same time that it is now," answered Billy.
"Wrong—wrong again," said the head Scally Wag. "It will be a week earlier."
"Ha-ha-ho-ho-he-he, oh! what a joke," cried the Scally Wags again, tweaking, pinching and punching Billy.
"If you do that again I'll pitch into you," cried Billy angrily.
"There, that will do," interrupted Bumbus; then hummed,
"Boys delight to bark and bite,
It is their nature to,
But every cat has many lives
And thereby hangs a tale."
"But that doesn't rhyme," said Billy.
"Of course not—why should it?" asked Bumbus.
"Wasn't it meant for a poem?"