"Britannia," arrogated to himself the position of being an authority
on shipping; so much so, indeed, that general satisfaction was felt
when he was, one evening, worsted by Christian. The subject selected
for competition was "A Haunted Ship."

"Where shall I put the ghost?" Georgy debated, chewing the end of his
pencil, with his head on one side.

"In the shrouds, of course!" said Christian.

"Funny dog!" sneered Georgy, who considered that his artistic efforts
were no fit subject for jesting. "You'd better come and shove in one
of your Midianites for me!"

Then Christian, with the disconcerting swiftness of action, mental and
physical, that was peculiarly hers, snatched, in a flash, the mug of
painted-water from Larry's elbow, and poured its contents over
Georgy's fair bullet-head; with which, and with a triumphing cry
(learnt from a County Cork kitchenmaid, and very fashionable in the
schoolroom) of "A-haadie!" she fled, "lighter-footed than the fox,"
and equally subtle and daring.

Christian was not easily roused to wrath, but when this occurred,
youngest of the party though she was, it was but rarely that victory
did not rest with her. Two subjects were marked dangerous among these
children, during the combative years of "growing-up," and were
therefore specially popular; of these, the one was Christian's reputed
occult power, coupled with gibes based on that hymn to which reference
has been made; the other was Larry's religion.