iff
and sore; and upon looking at one another, they found that the victory
had been dearly bought Fred had, after all, been the greatest hero, and,
as a matter of course, he had come in for the greatest amount of damage:
his clothes were soaked with water; his shirt stained with blood; his
collar torn off; but; as to personal damage, he had escaped with a cut
mouth and bleeding knuckles, for he had found that Bill Jenkins
possessed a terribly thick head. Harry's clothes were terribly dragged
about, and his knuckles were in nearly as bad a state as Fred's, while
his face was in such a condition that Philip said he might pass for
somebody else. Poor boy, he was sadly "punished," as sporting people
call it, while more matter-of-fact folks would say, "knocked about:" the
general appearance of his face was such that it might have been supposed
that he had been the combatant who was immersed in the water, and that,
having stayed in too long, his face had swelled and grown puffy. Philip
had a nasty cut on the ear, and had had his nose flattened, but it had
regained its proper position, though not without deluging him with
blood. Altogether, the boys unmistakeably bore the appearances of
having been in a sharp engagement; and, as the sailors say, they "hove
to" for the purpose of repairing damages.

The first proceeding was to wring all the water out of Fred's clothes,
and then, when he had put on his dry jacket and cap,--which he had flung
off on commencing the conflict,--he did not look so very, very bad.
Philip, too, was made pretty decent, when he had taken his stained
collar off, and buttoned his waistcoat up with the collar reversed, so
that it covered his shirt. But Harry was the worst, for he looked
dreadful; and no amount of bathing would make him decent. To begin
with, his cap would not go on so as to cover his bruised forehead; his
eyes were reduced to narrow slits, so that he could scarcely see; while
his mouth was drawn down all on one side.

"Only look what an old gutta-percha head," said Philip; "don't he seem
as if some one had been squeezing him out of shape?" And then all three
burst out laughing, till Harry begged of them not to make him laugh.

"Oh, don't, Phil; it does hurt so."

"I say," said Fred, "however are we to go in to tea?"

"I don't know," said Philip; "I don't know what they will say to us!
But we had better go home at once. What a set of guys we look! Let's
go along by the river si