Dick Martin ain't such a fool as to go an' steal
doorin' the daytime, so we don't need to begin till near dark. You are
big an' strong enough now, Bob, to go at a man like Dick an' floor him
wi a thumpin' stick."

"Scarcely," returned Bob, with a gratified yet dubious shake of his
head. "I'm game to try, but it won't do to risk gettin' the worst of it
in a thing o' this sort."

"Well, but if I'm there with another thumpin' stick to back you up,"
said Pat, "you'll have no difficulty wotsumdever. An' then, if we
should need help, ain't the `Blue Boar' handy, an' there's always a lot
o' hands there ready for a spree at short notice? Now, my adwice is
that we go right off an' buy two thumpin' sticks--yaller ones, wi' big
heads like Jack the Giant Killer--get 'em for sixpence apiece. A heavy
expense, no doubt, but worth goin' in for, for the sake of Eve Mooney.
And when, in the words o' the old song, the shades of evenin' is closin'
o'er us, we'll surround the house of Eve, and `wait till the brute rolls
by!'"

"You're far too poetical, Pat, for a practical man, said his friend.
Howsomediver, I think, on the whole, your adwice is not bad, so well try
it on. But wot are we to do till the shades of evenin' comes on?"

"Amoose ourselves," answered Pat promptly.

"H'm! might do worse," returned his friend. "I s'pose you know I've got
to be at Widow Martin's to take tea wi' Fred an' his bride on their
return from their weddin' trip. I wonder if I might take you with me,
Pat. You're small, an' I suppose you don't eat much."

"Oh, don't I, though?" exclaimed Pat.

"Well, no matter. It would be very jolly. We'd have a good blow-out,
you know; sit there comfortably together till it began to git dark, and
then start off to--to--"

"Go in an' win," suggested the little one.

Having thus discussed their plans and finished their coffee, the two
chivalrous lads went off to Yarmouth and purchased two of the most
formidable cudgels they could find, of the true Jack-the-Giant-Killer
type, with which they retired to the Denes to "amoose" themselves.

Evening found them hungry and hearty at the tea-table of Mrs Martin--
and really, for the table of a fisherman's widow, it was spread with a
very sumptuous repast; for it was a great day in the history of the
Martin family. No fewer than three Mrs Martins were seated round it.
There was old Granny Martin, who consented to quit her attic window on
that occasion and take the