his tolerating leader.

"It is a bit," Denny said, "but the mud's just as cool as the water, and
so soft it squeezes between your toes quite different to boots."

And so he splashed about, and kept asking Oswald to come along in.

But some unseen influence prevented Oswald doing this; or it may have
been because both his bootlaces were in hard knots.

Oswald had cause to bless the unseen influence, or the bootlaces, or
whatever it was.

Denny had got to the middle of the pool, and he was splashing about and
getting his clothes very wet indeed, and altogether you would have
thought his was a most envious and happy state. But alas! the brightest
cloud has a waterproof lining. He was just saying:

"You _are_ a silly, Oswald. You'd much better--" when he gave a
blood-piercing scream, and began to kick about.

"What's up?" cried the ready Oswald; he feared the worst from the way
Denny screamed, but he knew it could not be an old meat tin in this
quiet and jungular spot, like it was in the moat when the shark bit
Dora.

"I don't know, it's biting me. Oh, it's biting me all over my legs! Oh,
what shall I do? Oh, it does hurt! Oh! oh! oh!" remarked Denny, among
his screams, and he splashed towards the bank. Oswald went into the
water and caught hold of him and helped him out. It is true that Oswald
had his boots on, but I trust he would not have funked the unknown
terrors of the deep, even without his boots. I am almost sure he would
not have.

When Denny had scrambled and been hauled ashore, we saw with horror and
amaze that his legs were stuck all over with large black slug-looking
things. Denny turned green in the face--and even Oswald felt a bit
queer, for he knew in a moment what the black dreadfulnesses were. He
had read about them in a book called _Magnet Stories_, where there was a
girl called Theodosia, and she could play brilliant trebles on the piano
in duets, but the other girl knew all about leeches, which is much more
useful and golden deedy. Oswald tried to pull the leeches off, but they
wouldn't, and Denny howled so he had to stop trying. He remembered from
the _Magnet Stories_ how to make the leeches begin biting--the girl did
it with cream--but he could not remember how to stop them, and they had
not wanted any showing how to begin.

"Oh, what shall I do? What shall I do? Oh, it does hurt! Oh, oh!" Denny
observed, and Oswald said:

"Be a man! Buck up! If you won't let me take them off you'll just