William The Conqueror Read Free

all. It did
taste so nasty.

CHAPTER 2
A BIRTHDAY TREAT
    ‘W HAT we goin’ to do this afternoon?’ demanded William of his boon companions, the Outlaws.
    They felt that as far as the morning was concerned they had pretty well exhausted the resources of the universe. They had fished in the pond with bent pins, which were attached to the end of
strings which were attached to the end of sticks, and they had caught a large variety of water weeds and one sardine tin. Douglas said that he caught a fish which escaped before he could draw in
his line, but this statement was greeted with open incredulity by the others.
    ‘A jolly big one too,’ said Douglas, unconsciously following in the footsteps of older adherents to the piscatorial art.
    ‘Oh, yes,’ said William sarcastically, ‘so big that none of us could see it. If it was as big as what you say it is why din’ you tell us, then we could have had a
look at it?’
    ‘I din’ want to scare it away,’ said Douglas indignantly; then with a faint emulation of William’s sarcasm, ‘Fancy you not knowin’ that. Fancy you not
knowin’ that fishes get scared of you shoutin’ an’ yellin’ about. I’m not s’prised that you only catch ole tins an’ things that can’t hear you
shoutin’ an’ yellin’ about. I should think all the fishes for miles round’ve got headaches the way you’ve been shoutin’ an’ yellin’ about. I know the
one I caught looked’s if it’d got a headache with it.’
    William was taken aback by this outburst, but he quickly recovered.
    ‘Oh, yes, I dare say it looked pretty funny altogether, the one you caught. I’m sure if you caught a fish at all it was a pretty funny one.’
    ‘D’you say I din’t catch a fish?’ said Douglas furiously, squaring up to William.
    ‘I say no one saw your ole fish, ’an you oughter ask your mother to buy you a pair of spectacles s’as you can see what is fish an’ what’s your
own ’magination.’
    Ginger and Henry sat on the ground to watch the fight. It was not a long one, because Douglas lost his footing soon after they had begun and fell into the pond and was rescued by William, and
the excitement of this proceeding dimmed the memory of Douglas’s alleged ‘catch’.
    Then Henry thought that he saw a rabbit on the edge of the wood, so the Outlaws invaded the wood in a body with Jumble, William’s mongrel, at their head. Jumble hunted imaginary rabbits
with yelps and barks and futile rushes, and the Outlaws urged him on with war-whoops and cries of ‘Good old Jumble! Fetch him out.’ Jumble caught and dismembered a leaf after pursuing
it with wild excitement from tree to tree in the breeze, worried a clump of fungus, pricked his nose badly on a holly bush, and retired to bark defiance at it from a safe distance.
    Tiring of rabbit hunting, the Outlaws climbed trees, and when Ginger had torn his coat and Henry split his trousers with the effort of attaining dangerous heights, they abandoned that
occupation. They ‘tracked’ each other with much ostentatious secrecy and noisy ‘silence’ and crawling about on stomachs and sibilant whispering and ‘Sh’s’
and stepping upon twigs and exclamations. Finally they were chased into the road again by a furious keeper and were given a ride in a farm waggon by a passing labourer, who was blessed with a good
nature and rather liked the daredevil looks of the Outlaws.
    William, drunk with ecstasy, drove and narrowly escaped precipitating the equipage into the ditch, and Ginger, while experimenting how far he could lean out at the back without falling,
overbalanced and fell into the road. He climbed back cheerful and unhurt, if somewhat dishevelled.
    Arrived at the village, they descended with much exuberant thanks and made their way to the disused barn that was the scene of most of their activities.
    There they had a shooting match with the homemade bows and arrows that they kept concealed at the back of the barn. After