lowped alang as fast as he were able, but
he couldn't catch up t' other lads, choose what he did, an' all t' time
t' leet were fadin' out o' t' sky. At lang length he thowt he saw yan o'
t' lads waitin' for him under an oak, but when he'd gotten alangside o'
him, he fan' it were a lad that he'd niver clapped een on afore. He were
no bigger nor Doed, but 'twere gey hard to tell how owd he were; and
he'd a fearful queer smell about him; 'twere just as though he'd taen t'
juices out o' all t' trees o' t' wood an' smeared 'em ower his body. But
what capped all were t' clothes he was donned in; they were covered wi'
green moss, an' on his heead was a cap o' red fur.

"Well, when Doed saw him, he was a bit flaid, but t' lad looked at him
friendly-like and says:

"'Now then, Doed, wheer ista boun'?'

"'I's boun' home,' says Doed, an' his teeth started ditherin' wi' freet.

"'Well, I's gannin thy ways,' says t' lad, 'so, if thou likes, thou can
coom alang wi' me. Thou'll happen not have seen me afore, but I can tell
who thou is by t' way thou favvours thy mother. Thou'll have heerd tell
o' thy uncle, Ned Bowker, that lives ower by Sally Abbey; he's my
father, so I reckon thou an' me's cousins.'

"Now Doed had heerd his mother tell about his Uncle Ned, an' when t' lad
said that Ned Bowker were his father, he gat a bit aisier in his mind;
but for all that he didn't altogether like t' looks o' him. Howiver,
they gat agate o' talkin', and Doed let on that he were fearful fain o'
squirrels. You see, he kept all nations o' wild birds an' wild animals
down at his house; he'd linnets an' nanpies i' cages, and an ark full o'
pricky-back urchins. But he'd niver catched a squirrel; they were ower
wick for him, an' he wanted a squirrel more nor owt else i' t' world.

"When Melsh Dick heard that--for o' course t' lad was Melsh Dick
hissen--he said that if Doed would coom wi' him, he'd sooin gie him what
he wanted. He'd bin climmin' t' trees an' had catched a squirrel an'
putten it i' t' basket he'd browt his dinner in.

"Well, lile Doed hardlins knew what to do. 'Twere gettin' lat, an' there
were summat about t' lad that set him agin him. But then he bethowt him
o' t' squirrel, an' t' squirrel were ower mich for him. So he said to
Melsh Dick that he'd gan wi' him an' fotch t' squirrel, but he munnot
stop lang, or fowks would consate that he'd lossen his way i' t' wood
an' would coom seekin' him. When Melsh Dick heerd him say that he'd