he said. ‘Come and tell me what he did indoors.’
It was evening. William and Ginger and Douglas sat gloomily in William’s back garden. ‘That’s all one gets,’ said William bitterly, ‘for
savin’ one’s country. That’s all one gets for puttin’ a foreign enemy to flight. Bein’ treated like that. Oh, no, no one believes me, do they? Oh no. They’ll
believe any lies any foreign enemy tells them, won’t they? But not me, not me what’s saved the country. They won’t believe anythin’ I say. Oh, no. I can save the country
from a foreign enemy, but that doesn’t make any difference. Oh, no. They won’t listen to a word I say. Oh, no. But they’ll listen to a foreign enemy all right. Oh, yes.
Well. I’ve jolly well finished with ’em and now – now ’ – impressively he brought out his terrible threat – ‘if they came to me on their knees beggin ’ to put up a statchoo to me. I wouldn’t let ’em.’
CHAPTER 4
WILLIAM THE MONEY MAKER
T HE Outlaws stood around and gazed expectantly at William.
‘Well, where’re we goin’ to get ’em?’ said Ginger.
‘Buy ’em,’ said William after a moment’s deep thought.
There was another silence. The solution was felt to be unworthy of William.
‘ Buy ’em!’ echoed Douglas in a tone that expressed the general feeling, ‘ buy ’em! Who’s got any money?’
This question being unanswerable remained unanswered. It was a strange fact that the Outlaws never had any money. They all received pocket money regularly and they all received the usual tips
from visiting relatives, but the fact remained that they never had any money. Most of it, of course, went in repairing the wreckage that followed in the train of their normal activities –
broken windows, shattered greenhouse frames, ruined paintwork and ornaments which seemed to the Outlaws deliberately to commit self-destruction on their approach. As William frequently remarked
with deep bitterness:
‘Meanness, that’s what it is. Meanness. Anythin’ to keep the money themselves ’stead of givin’ it to us. Seems to me they go about makin’ things easy to break
so’s they c’n have an excuse for keeping it themselves instead of givin’ it us. Meanness. That’s what it is.’
The parents of the Outlaws who formed a sort of unofficial Parents’ Union and generally worked in concert had evolved the system of fines – one penny for being late to a meal, a
half-penny for dirty hands at meals and a farthing for not scraping their boots before coming into the house (merely wiping them was insufficient. The Outlaws always brought in with them the larger
part of the surrounding countryside). What was salvaged from the general wreckage of their finances caused by this ruthless tyranny seldom passed the test of the close proximity of Mr Moss’s
sweet shop with its bottles of alluring sweets and its boxes of less lasting but more intriguing chocolate ‘fancies’.
‘ Buy ’em,’ echoed Henry with deep feeling. ‘What’re we to buy ’em with? There’s laws to stop people takin’ money off other people,
but my father’ – with heavy sarcasm – ‘don’t seem to have heard of ’em. He’ll be getting into trouble one of these days takin’ other people’s
money off them. He’s startin’ with me, what he thinks can’t do anythin’ back, but he’ll be going’ on to other people soon like what the Vicar said people always
do what begin pickin’ an’ stealin’ in little things an’ then he’ll be gettin’ into trouble. Takin’ sixpence off me jus’ for bein’ late for a
few meals! An’ then they keep sayin’ why don’t we save. Well, what I say is why don’ they give us somethin’ to save, ’fore they start
goin’ on an’ on at us for not savin’. Not that I b’lieve in savin’,’ he added hastily, ‘I don’ b’lieve in savin’ an’ I never have
b’lieved in savin’. Money isn’t doing’ any good to anyone – not while you’re
It was evening. William and Ginger and Douglas sat gloomily in William’s back garden. ‘That’s all one gets,’ said William bitterly, ‘for
savin’ one’s country. That’s all one gets for puttin’ a foreign enemy to flight. Bein’ treated like that. Oh, no, no one believes me, do they? Oh no. They’ll
believe any lies any foreign enemy tells them, won’t they? But not me, not me what’s saved the country. They won’t believe anythin’ I say. Oh, no. I can save the country
from a foreign enemy, but that doesn’t make any difference. Oh, no. They won’t listen to a word I say. Oh, no. But they’ll listen to a foreign enemy all right. Oh, yes.
Well. I’ve jolly well finished with ’em and now – now ’ – impressively he brought out his terrible threat – ‘if they came to me on their knees beggin ’ to put up a statchoo to me. I wouldn’t let ’em.’
CHAPTER 4
WILLIAM THE MONEY MAKER
T HE Outlaws stood around and gazed expectantly at William.
‘Well, where’re we goin’ to get ’em?’ said Ginger.
‘Buy ’em,’ said William after a moment’s deep thought.
There was another silence. The solution was felt to be unworthy of William.
‘ Buy ’em!’ echoed Douglas in a tone that expressed the general feeling, ‘ buy ’em! Who’s got any money?’
This question being unanswerable remained unanswered. It was a strange fact that the Outlaws never had any money. They all received pocket money regularly and they all received the usual tips
from visiting relatives, but the fact remained that they never had any money. Most of it, of course, went in repairing the wreckage that followed in the train of their normal activities –
broken windows, shattered greenhouse frames, ruined paintwork and ornaments which seemed to the Outlaws deliberately to commit self-destruction on their approach. As William frequently remarked
with deep bitterness:
‘Meanness, that’s what it is. Meanness. Anythin’ to keep the money themselves ’stead of givin’ it to us. Seems to me they go about makin’ things easy to break
so’s they c’n have an excuse for keeping it themselves instead of givin’ it us. Meanness. That’s what it is.’
The parents of the Outlaws who formed a sort of unofficial Parents’ Union and generally worked in concert had evolved the system of fines – one penny for being late to a meal, a
half-penny for dirty hands at meals and a farthing for not scraping their boots before coming into the house (merely wiping them was insufficient. The Outlaws always brought in with them the larger
part of the surrounding countryside). What was salvaged from the general wreckage of their finances caused by this ruthless tyranny seldom passed the test of the close proximity of Mr Moss’s
sweet shop with its bottles of alluring sweets and its boxes of less lasting but more intriguing chocolate ‘fancies’.
‘ Buy ’em,’ echoed Henry with deep feeling. ‘What’re we to buy ’em with? There’s laws to stop people takin’ money off other people,
but my father’ – with heavy sarcasm – ‘don’t seem to have heard of ’em. He’ll be getting into trouble one of these days takin’ other people’s
money off them. He’s startin’ with me, what he thinks can’t do anythin’ back, but he’ll be going’ on to other people soon like what the Vicar said people always
do what begin pickin’ an’ stealin’ in little things an’ then he’ll be gettin’ into trouble. Takin’ sixpence off me jus’ for bein’ late for a
few meals! An’ then they keep sayin’ why don’t we save. Well, what I say is why don’ they give us somethin’ to save, ’fore they start
goin’ on an’ on at us for not savin’. Not that I b’lieve in savin’,’ he added hastily, ‘I don’ b’lieve in savin’ an’ I never have
b’lieved in savin’. Money isn’t doing’ any good to anyone – not while you’re
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