An' then he'd stop a bit, an' then fall to hootin' agen, till I was forced to laff too, way back behind the hedge, for cumpanny.

An' ivery time he noted a fresh bit o' likelihood in the scarecrow he'd go off in a fresh fit.
I thought he'd niver ha' done.
"But in a while he hushed, an' waited a bit to calm hes nerves, an' stepped down off the pea-stick.

Thinks I, 'What es he up to now ?' An' I stood up to see, but quiet-like, so's I shudn' scare 'n.
"I hadn' long to wait.

He jest steps up behind the scarecrow, makes a leg, so grave as you plaise, an' commences for to dance round 'un-- fust 'pon wan leg, then 'pon t'other--like as ef 'twas a haythen dancin' round a graven image.

But the flauntin' ins'lence o't, sir! The brazen, fleerin' abusefulness! Not a feather, ef you'll believe me, but fairly leaked wi' ribaldry--jest _leaked_.
"Th' ould bird had got ha'f-way round, a-mincin' an' japin', an' throwin' out hes legs this way an' that an' gettin' more boldacious an' ondacent wi' ivery step, when he cocks his head askew for a second, jest to see how the pore image was a-takin' o't, an' that moment he catches the scarecrow's eye.
"Aw, sir, to see the change as comed over that bird! The forthiness [10] went out o'n for all the world like wind out 'n a pricked bladder; an' I reckon nex' minnit there warn't no meaner, sicklier-lookin' critter atween this an' Johnny Groats' than that ould rook.