human
Why, Tom, that can't be a boat,
gpt
Boat! No, it's land there.
human
Land! It's soft bog that nobody could walk on!
gpt
Then it couldn't be a boat. Why, it's a will-o'-the-wisp.
human
Yes, said Dick, after a sceptical pause, during which he watched the lambent light as it played about in a slow fantastic way, just as if it were a softly-glowing lantern carried by a short-winged moth, which used it to inspect the flowering plants as it sought for a meal.
gpt
Let's go over and look at it.
human
No, no! no, no!
gpt
Why not? Are you afraid?
human
No, not a bit; but I don't want to go. I'm tired and hungry. I don't believe you want to go either.
gpt
Yes, I do, said Dick eagerly.
human
I feel as if I wanted to go, but my body didn't.
gpt
Ha, ha, ha! laughed Tom, but very softly, as he kept his eyes fixed on the distant light.
human
That's a nice way of backing out of it. Why, you're as much afraid as I am, only I'm honest and you're not.
gpt
Yes, I am, whispered Dick.
human
I'm as honest as you are, and I'll show you that I am. There, I should feel afraid to go by myself.
gpt
Will you go if I go with you?
human
I say, what's that?
gpt
I don't know. It sounds very queer. There it is again.
human
Is it a bird?
gpt
No. I never heard a bird cry like that.
human
What is it then--a fox trapped?
gpt
Nobody would trap the foxes, and it can't be a rabbit, because that would be a squeal.
human
It's something queer, said Tom huskily.
gpt
Take the pole and let's get away. Don't make a noise.
human
But--
gpt
No, no; don't stop. We don't know what it is. Perhaps it's one of those things Hicky talks about that he has heard sometimes.
human
Father says it's all nonsense, and there are no such things in the fens.
gpt
He'd better say there are no will-o'-the-wisps to lead people astray,
human
He doesn't say that. He says there are jack-o'-lanterns, but they don't lead people astray--people go astray to try and catch them.
gpt
Hist! there it is again! said Tom, gripping his companion's arm, as the long piteous cry came faintly over the water.
human
It is something horrible!
gpt
It isn't, said Dick.
human
It's someone in distress.
gpt
People in distress never cry out like that.
human
Why, Tom, it's that Thorpeley stuck in the mud somewhere; and it's our doing.
gpt
It's his own if he is stuck there. But I don't believe it is. Why, it's two miles nearer home than where we left him.
human
Then it's somebody else in trouble,
gpt
It isn't. Let's go home.