Page:A Child of the Jago - Arthur Morrison.djvu/361

 yer davy o' that. I bin a thinkin' about it for a fortnight, but it wants two. Damme, it's nobby!" And Bill Rann grinned again, and made two taps of a step-dance. "Wotjer think," he pursued, suddenly serious, "wotjer think o' screwin' a fence?"

It was a novel notion, but in Josh's mind, at first flush, it seemed unsportsmanlike. "Wot fence?" asked Josh.

Bill Rann's grin burst wild again. He bent low, with outstretched chin, and stuck his elbows out as he answered: "W'y, ole Weech!"

Josh bared his teeth—but with no smile—looking sharply in the other's upturned face. Bill Rann, bent nearly double, and with hands in pockets, flapped his arms in a manner of wings, chuckled aloud, and, jerking his feet back and forth, went elaborately through the first movement of the gallows-flap. "Eh? eh?" said he. "'Ow's that strike ye, ole cock?"