Just -- William | Page 8

to pull it out of solid rock to prove it."
"To prove what?"
"That he was king. And then he started knights."
Mr. Brown considered the explanation in silence for a few minutes, then shrugged helplessly.
"You'll fetch that bread-knife back the minute you've finished your breakfast," he said, "and, if it's damaged beyond repair, you'll pay for a new one out of your pocket-money."
"Yes, Father," said William. "I don't think it's damaged beyond repair. All the others pulled an' pulled"
"Get on with your breakfast, dear," said Mrs. Brown.
"The boy's mad, of course," said Ethel.
"Stark, staring," agreed Robert.
"Good lord!" said Mr. Brown, looking at the clock. "I've missed the late train now!"

"Arise, Sir Douglas," said Henry, tapping the kneeling Douglas sharply on the head with the Browns' bread-knife.
"Gosh! You don't seem to know the difference between knightin' and executin'," said Douglas ruefully, rising to his feet and rubbing his head. "Anyway, I don't think we ought to've started the knight part till William got back... Oh, here he is."
William, having placed Jumble again in his position as watch dog, was just entering the barn.
"Isn't Ginger here yet?" he said, looking round.
"No..." said Henry. "Did you get into a row?"
"Not much," said William. "He was mad at first, but I got him to listen to reason. He didn't seem to know anythin' about the Excelsior thing till I told him. Funny he'd never heard of it. Anyway, I've got to take it back. Where is it?"
"It's here," said Henry. "I've jus' been knightin' Douglas with it."
"Well, you've no business to go knightin' people," said William indignantly. "Only the King's allowed to knight people."
"Well, I am the King," said Henry. "I'm King Henry. It's the same as King Arthur, but a diff'rent name."
"You can't be King-" said William. "I'm the King and the rest of you's knights."
"Why should you be King?" said Henry, who occasionally made--always unsuccessful--efforts to wrest from William the position of leadership of the gang.
"Well, whose bread-knife is it?" said William, "an' who pulled it out of solid rock?"
"It wasn't solid rock," said Henry. "It was two bricks, an' anyone could have done it. You didn't give anyone else a chance."
Again Jumble's bark cut sharply through the air.
"I bet that's Hubert Lane," said Douglas.
"He was watchin' us when we came out this mornin'."
Hubert Lane was the leader of the rival gang of boys and the inveterate enemy of the Outlaws. The feud lent to the daily life of William, Ginger, Henry and Douglas a zest it might otherwise have lacked.
"Action stations!" ordered William. "Can you see who it is, Henry?"
"It's a girl," said Henry, craning his head.
"It isn't even a girl," said William, in a tone of deep disgust, as he peered out of the door. "It's Violet Elizabeth Bott."
Violet Elizabeth was a child of six, with a dominating personality, a ruthless will and a misleadingly winsome expression. She also had a lisp that some people--though not the Outlaws--found engaging. Her chief aim in life was to attach herself to the Outlaws in general and to William in particular, and some uncanny instinct seemed to lead her unerringly to any place where they were.
"I've come to thee you, William," said Violet Elizabeth in explanation of her presence.
"Well, now you've come, you can go away again," said William ungraciously.
"But I don't want to," said Violet Elizabeth sweetly. "I want to thtay here."
"Well, we don't want you," said William.
"That dothn't matter," said Violet Elizabeth forgivingly. "I don't mind."
"Well, we do," said Douglas.
"You don't want to stay with people who don't want you, do you?" said Henry, trying subtler methods.
"Yeth, I do," said Violet Elizabeth serenely. "I want to play Indianth with you. I want to be a thquaw."
"Well, we aren't playing Indians, so go away," said William.
"What are you playing at?" said Violet Elizabeth.
"We're Knights of the Round Table," said William..
"I'll be a Knight of the Round Table, too," said Violet Elizabeth.
"You can't be. Knights were men."
Violet Elizabeth considered. "I'll be a lady knight, then," she said.
"No, you won't," said William, "'cause there weren't any."
"There would be if I wath one," said Violet Elizabeth simply.
"They were knights, I tell you. And knights means men. You couldn't do the things knights did, anyway."
"What did they do?" said Violet Elizabeth.
"They went about rescuing damsels in distress," said Henry.
Violet Elizabeth considered this. "I'll be a damthel in dithtreth, then, shall I?" she said, beaming round at them, with the air of one who has solved a difficult problem to the satisfaction of all concerned. "Then you can rethcue me."
"We jolly well don't want to rescue you," said William.
"Why not?"
'Cause we don't. That's why not."
"That'th no reathon."
"Oh, shut up an' go away."
But Violet Elizabeth was now firmly seated on the packing-case, swinging her short sandalled legs.
"If you haven't got any damthelth in dithtreth to rethcue, you can't be knighth,"