"Don't worry. We'll find the toy, and if anyone's played with it, we'll beat him up!" Bram said. He wasn't that good at beating other boys up, but the younger boy didn't need to know that. Bram wanted to be admired. He turned around to face the boys in the field again. "WHO TOOK CLOVER"S COAT!?" he shouted at the top of his voice.

A few boys shifted nervously on their feet, all standing relatively near each other, Clover noticed, and so he was naturally suspicious of them and pointed them out to Bram, who he was starting to think of as a good leader. "What about them three?" Although Clover was a mischievous boy and appreciated most pranks, he thought that if this was a practical joke, it had gone too far.

Bram marched over to the boys and folded his arms across his chest, which, he hoped, made him look very angry and intimidating. "Did you take Clover's coat!? Because if you did, I will beat you up!"

An older boy who was playing a different ball game with his friend snorted. "Yeah right! I wanna see that!"

Clover frowned at the older boy's taunt. It was one thing to knock one into the mud for all fun and games, but to insult another's boyish strength was another thing entirely. "I'm sure you will," encouraged Clover to Bram, "to whoever took my coat!" From the excitement the idea of thievery provided, any other possibilities had left Clover's mind and he believed someone/s had, in fact, taken his coat.

"I could take on you!" Bram shouted at the older boy, encouraged by Clover's support. He super couldn't.

Some of the older boys laughed, and that enraged Bram. He ran over to the boy and tried to kick him. But the older boy easily managed to grab him and toss him into the mud, which led to another roar of laughter from the other boys.

"Hey!" Clover ran forward and helped Bram off the ground, glaring at the older boys. "Give me back my coat!" he shouted, even though he wasn't certain they'd taken it.

"I don't have your stupid coat!" the older boy shouted.

Bram let Clover help him up, and then while the older boy was distracted, Bram tossed himself at him, kicking and punching.

Clover debated with himself whether or not to jump into the fight and help Bram, but when his hesitation almost cost him a black eye as one of the older boys took a swing at him, he dive right into the gray, fists swinging and eyes clenched tightly shut. Maybe if he didn't see himself fighting he would be able to tell his father he hadn't.

Bram was soon knocked down and several boys held him down in the mud and started rubbing mud all over his clothes. "Little piggy!" They mocked. Bram struggled.

Oh Anne was going to kill him.

With a battle cry that sounded more like a weak yelp, Clover sprinted forward and managed to knock two of the boys off Bram before he was tackled too. His cheeks burned red with shame. He knew his Pa would be disappointed in him when he got home...