So far from being impressed or put down, Judith took her stand as
usual on the offensive. "'Fore I'd be afraid of a little rain!" she
said severely, an answer which caused Arnold to seem disconcerted, and
again to look at her hard with the startled expression of arrested
attention which from the first her remarks and strictures seemed to
cause in him.

They took the pinto out. Judith rode him bareback at a gallop down
to the swimming pool and dived from his back into the yellow water
shimmering hotly in the sun. This feat stung Arnold into a final fury.
Without an instant's pause he sprang in after her. As he came to the
top, swimming strongly with a lusty, regular stroke, and rapidly
overhauled the puffing Judith, his face shone brilliantly with relief.
He was another child. The petulant boy of a few moments before had
vanished. "Beat you to the springboard!" he sputtered joyously,
swimming low and spitting water as he slid easily through it at twice
Judith's speed. She set her teeth and drove her tough little body with
a fierce concentration of all her forces, but Arnold was sitting on
the springboard, dangling his red and swollen feet when she arrived.

She clambered out and sat down beside him, silent for an instant. Then
she said with a detached air, "You can swim better than any boy I ever
saw."

Arnold's open, blond face flushed scarlet at this statement. He looked
at the dripping little brown rat beside him, and returned impulsively,
"I'd rather play with you than any girl I ever saw."

They were immediately reduced to an awkward silence by these two