'This is what I call satisfactory,' said Bill, as they sat at breakfast
next morning. 'It's a great relief to the mind to know that them
puddin'-thieves is sufferin' the agonies of remorse, and that our
Puddin' is safe from bein' stolen every ten minutes.'
'You're a bun-headed old optimist,' said the Puddin' rudely.
'Puddin'-thieves never suffer from remorse. They only suffer from
blighted hopes and suppressed activity.'
'Have you no trust in human nature, Albert?' asked Bill, sternly. 'Don't
you know that nothin' gives a man greater remorse than havin' his face
punched, his toes trod on, and eggs rubbed in his hair?'
'I have grave doubts myself,' said Bunyip Bluegum, 'as to the sincerity
of their repentance'; and Ben Brandysnap said that, speaking as a market
gardener, his experience of carrot catchers, onion snatchers, pumpkin
pouncers, and cabbage grabbers induced him to hold the opinion that
shooting them with pea-rifles was the only sure way to make them feel
remorse.