tail ain't a-gun' to last much
more,' ses he.

"Dat sort o' cut into her sense a bit, an' she stop an' look. `Oh,
dat's it, is it?' ses she, an' she looks as if dat ain't no great shakes
to be de matter wid him. `If you'd yust go up an' make it loose?' ses
he.

"`Hump!' ses she, but she cahnt say no more yust yet, an' so up she go.
But when she get up on de roof an' see how fast his tail is t'atched in
wid de rest, it kind o' strike her to won'er how de jimminy his tail
come like dat, an' she hadn't more'n begun to un-t'atch it 'fore she
begin to ax him how come it so.

"Ou' Wolf he ain't in no Allah Crachty hurry to tell her all about it,
but he ain't no good at tellin' you-know-whats. So what he hatto do he
yust up an' did, an' he told her de hull tale plump.

"Now p'r'aps she tinks a lot of Ou' Wolf, an' agen p'r'aps she tinks
more about bein' goin' to get married an' have a house o' her own to
boss in. But anyhow she tinks a lot de most o' herse'f, an' she gets
dat mad wid him for bein' had so silly dat she cahnt stand it nohow.
She yust stop unt'atchin', an' she fair slam herse'f half way down troo
de rafters to reach him an' biff him a one-two in de ribses. `Take
dat!' ses she, `an' dat! for bein' sich a fathead!'

"`Ouk! Ouk!' Ou' Wolf he yell, an' he make sich a kick an' sich a
fluster to get out o' reach, dat fust ting you know de t'atch won't hold
no longer an' it come loose an' let him down _wollop_! fair on his head.
But Missus Wolf she's yust dat mad-an'-ginger dat she try to grab him
an' hold him up f'm droppin' till she can biff him agen; an' she grab
yust too far an' miss her reach, an' down she come as well, head fust
too, biff into his tummy, an' knock de wind clean outen him.

"Atween his head an' his tummy Ou' Wolf he tink he's fair about dyin',
but in yust two ticks Missus Wolf was up an' a-lammin' into him. Den he
knowed yust how dead he ain't, for he yumps up wid a howl an' a howler,
an' he fair streak it out o' dat into de vach-a-bikkie bushes till he
could lost her. He sit down dere, but he cahnt tink for feelin', an' he
cahnt rub his head for tinkin' on his tummy, nor rub his tummy for
tinkin' on his head.

"But he lay it all up to Ou' Jackalse. `Yust wait till I get a fair ole
chance,' ses he, `den see if I don't get so even wid him it'll stick out
de oder side. Dat's all.'

"Well, it went on like dis till one day Ou' Wolf was a-raungin' along,
an' who should he see along