128 ON SURREY HILLS. 



caught by him and abused roundly. They tried to 

 tempt him by the offer of a catch now and again. 



" I wants neither your fish nor you ; mind ye, I 

 warns ye off." 



Two days later he caught them there again. First 

 he gave it to Soldier Will hotly ; then he walked on 

 to give Dickey a turn. Dickey had slunk in under 

 a bank, but did not escape him ; so he put on his 

 comical air, stuck his old straw hat on the back of 

 his head, turned the collar of his coat up over his 

 ears, and, as the farmer stood over him, looked up 

 with a squint. Crab-apple looked at him without 

 a word, and passed on up the field. 



Then Dickey got up and joined his friend. " Did 

 he say much, Soldier ? " he asked. 



" You heard what he said plain enough," grunted 

 Will. 



"Ah! he said nothin' to me." 



Looking at Dickey for a moment, criticisingly. 

 Will said — "And no wonder he made a mistake, 

 an' took ye for one of the biggest fools he ever 

 seed in his life ; but ye're not that, Dickey,— rather 

 the other way, eh, old boy.'" 



One more visit they made on Old Crab-apple's 



