unicate with.

There were many times when, being on some commission of this kind, he
was sharply tempted to indulge in a little dalliance with his old
playmates, who were more eager for his company than ever now that they
were deprived of it. On a hot summer day, after a long forenoon of
tiresome tramping through the dusty streets delivering bills or getting
replies to inquiries, the longing to take a plunge into the cool green
water of the dock was very hard to resist. At such times his fine
clothes were apt to feel like fetters, which it would be an
inexpressible relief to cast off and return to his former tatters.

Again and again he succeeded in withstanding the temptation; but one
sultry, oppressive afternoon in August proved too much for him, and he
yielded, though could he only have foreseen the consequences he would
surely have held firm.

He had been sent out to collect wharfage accounts. They were usually
trifling as to amount, and the method was for the clerk paying the bill
to mark it down in a small book Terry carried as well as to take a
receipt, thus making a double record.

This fateful afternoon it happened that Terry's collections reached a
larger amount than usual, totalling up nearly fifty dollars. He
finished his round away up at West's Wharf, and feeling very hot and
tired went down to have a look at the cool salt water. He found there
a half-dozen boys, nearly all of whom he knew, just getting ready for a
hilarious swim in the dock. They hailed him at once with pressing
requests to join them.

"Come along, Terry; off with your duds. It's a great day for a duck,"
and so forth, growing more and more urgent as they perceived him to
waver in his resolution of refusal. Finally, a couple of them, having
got rid of their own garments, rushed upon him, and seizing him on
either side, proceeded to pull off his hat and coat, and to unbutton
his vest; while the others, with loud shouts of, "Here she goes! Who's
last?" dived joyously into the seductive depths.

This was more than Terry could stand. Giving each of his captors a
smart slap that sent them capering off uttering feigned cries of pain,
he tore off his own clothes, flung them in a heap on the wharf, and
with a shout of "Here we are again!" described a graceful parabola in
the air ere he shot head first into the water.

He had what he would have called a "high old time." Abandoning himself
entirely to the pleasure of the moment, th