It was, however, difficult to get very angry without knowing George's reason, and George, though he said that the reason was a good one--that it was a serious difficulty in the way of going a-fishing that day, which had only come to his knowledge since they left home, steadily persisted in declining to explain what the difficulty was until the evening, and began slowly to walk back toward the house.
_Egbert becomes Sullen_.
Egbert then declared that, at any rate, he would not go home.

If he could not go a-fishing he would stay there in the woods.

George readily fell in with this idea.

"Here is a nice place for me to sit down on this flat rock under the trees," said he, "and I have got a book in my pocket.

You can play about in the woods as long as you please.