"Most true; but it wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t kept his attention fixed by the longest spell of spouting I ever did in my life.  It was a ripping rag, old man, and now we’ll toddle back to bed.  The one thing that beats me is, what’s his motive?  He’d hardly take the trouble to smash our dam just to get even with us, would he?  That’s a kid’s trick. There’s something very fishy about old Noakes."