Willy's eyes sparkled,--he didn't know it, but they did,--and he drew in his breath with a "Whew!" Not that he had the least idea of going with Gid; but the very thought of it was perfectly bewitching. How often he had teased his two brothers to teach him to swim! and they wouldn't. He was always too young, and they never could stop. They thought he was a baby; but Gid didn't think so. Ah, Gid knew better than that. CHAPTER VI. THE BOY THAT MEANT TO MIND HIS MOTHER. "Come on, Billy Button." "O, Gid Noonin, I can't." "Why not? Got the cramp?" "Look here, Gid." "Well, I'm looking." "Now, Gid Noonin!" "Yes; that's my name!" "I shan't go a step!" "So I wouldn't," returned Gid, coolly. "I only asked you for fun." "O--h! H'm! Are you going to swim in the brook or the river?" "Brook, you goosie. Prime place down there by the old willow tree. Don't you wish I'd let you go?" "No; for my mother says--" "O, _does_ she, though?" "My mother says--" "Lor, now, Billy Button!" "Hush, Gid; my mother says--" "A pretty talking woman your mother is!" struck in Gid, squinting his eyes. What a witty creature Gid was! Willy could hardly keep from laughing. "Can't you let me speak, Gid Noonin? My mother says she won't--" "Says she _won't_? That's real wicked kind of talk! I'm ashamed of your mother!" Willy laughed. Gid did have _such_ a way of making up faces! "Come on, you little girl-baby! Guess I _will_ take you, if you won't cry." Willy laughed again. It was not at all painful, but extremely funny, to hear Gid call names, for he never did it in a provoking way at all. "Come along, you little tip end of a top o' my thumb." "No, _sir_. Shan't go a step!" Willy was a boy that meant to mind his mother. "But I s'pose you'll have to go if I take you." Willy caught himself by the left ear. He felt the need of holding on by something; still he was somehow afraid he should have to go in spite of his ears. Was there ever such a boy as Gid for teasing? "Why, Gid Noonin, I told you my mother said--" "No, you didn't! You haven't told me a thing! You stutter so I can't understand a word." At the idea of his stuttering, Willy laughed outright; and during that moment of weakness was picked up and set astride of Gid's shoulders. "You put me down! My mother says I shan't play with you; so there!" cried Willy, struggling manfully, yet a little pleased, I must confess, to think he couldn't possibly help himself. "Ride away, ride away. Billy shall ride," sang Gid, bouncing his burden up and down. Willy felt like a dry leaf in an eddy, which is whirled round and round, yet is all the while making faster and faster for the hungry dimple in the middle, where there is no getting out again.