continued Harry. "Oh, h--h--he ain't h--h--hurtin' m--me," said Horry.

Sally laughed. "Well," she said, "you'll get up." She took Harry by the shoulder. "It's positively disgraceful the way you brothers fight."

Harry got up slowly. "B--b--brothers always f--f--fight," he said apologetically, "if th--th--they're an--an--any--wh--where ne--n--near th--the s--s--same s--size. H--H--Horry 'n-n' I are j--just th--the s--s--same s--s--size. B--b--but I n--n--never h--hurt 'im," he added magnanimously.

Horry had got up, and was standing on one leg, with his stockinged foot against his other knee. He made Sally think of a belligerent stork.

"Y--yer c--c--couldn't, th--that's wh--why," he yelled. Then, sticking his head forward until his face was almost touching his brother's, he vented his scorn in a single yell. "Y--a--ah!"

This was too much for Harry's imitation of goodness, and he gave chase at once. Horry, handicapped by the loss of one shoe, which was now almost out of sight, had made but two jumps when Harry caught him.

They clinched and went down in a heap. Sally couldn't tell whether the stockinged foot belonged to the under or the upper twin. She laughed again. They seemed to prefer to fight anyway, so why not let them?

The kite was now up as far as it could go. The rope was all out, and Everett was holding to a post of the fence. d.i.c.k came running over the field toward the prostrate twins.

"Here, you twins!" he called. "Stop your fighting. Get up!"

He seized the upper twin, jerked him to his feet and gave him a shake.

It proved to be Horry.

"L--l--lemme 'l--l--lone!" cried Horry. "I ain't d--doin'

an--an--yth--thing to y--you. Wh--wh--where's m--m--my sh--shoe?

G--g--gimme m--my sh--shoe."

Harry scrambled to his feet. "Y--you l--l--let m--m--my b--brother al--l--lone, D--d.i.c.k. P--pitch in, H--H--Horry."

Accordingly they both pitched in. d.i.c.k had his hands full for a minute. Sally ran up.

"Everett is calling you."

"Pugnacious little beggars!" said d.i.c.k.

He knocked their heads together, gently, and ran off, leaving the twins with blazing eyes, looking after him. They began to splutter.

"It's all entirely your own fault," Sally began hastily, "and you know it. Look at the kite."

The kite was pitching in the gusty wind. The tail was not long enough nor the rope either. Occasionally it would dive head down, but Everett always managed to check it, and it rose again, twitching from side to side.

"M--m--my sh--shoe!" Horry cried, after one of the dives. He started off over the field. "I'm g--g--goin' t--to g--g--get it."

The kite dived again, straight down. Horry was almost under it, the sight of his shoe, not more than a hundred feet above his head, making him reckless--if anything was needed to make him so.

"Horry!" Sally called anxiously. "Come away. You'll get hurt."

But he showed no disposition to come away. He followed the kite, keeping just under it, his arms upraised. Sally ran towards him; and at that moment Everett succeeded in checking the downward dive of the great kite, which rose slowly, tugging and twitching at its rope viciously. It was like a live thing compelled to go up against its will and determined to come down. It was pretty low now and it seemed likely that the kite would have its way.

d.i.c.k seemed to think so. "It's no use, Ev," he said. "Better let it down easy and we'll put on more ballast."

Everett gritted his teeth and made no reply. If any kite was to get the better of him, it would have to fight for it. He wouldn't give in.

"You'll have it smashed up," d.i.c.k warned him quietly.

As he spoke, the kite gave two violent pitches and dived once more.

Even Everett could not stop it and it came down like lightning, straight at Horry Carling. Sally saw it and so did Horry. Horry seemed to be paralyzed; and Sally precipitated herself upon him, bearing him to the ground, but a little away from the kite. The next instant the heavy kite struck the ground with great force and two of its sticks broke. It had struck Sally on her outstretched left foot and may have broken something more than kite sticks.

The broken kite fell over upon Sally and Horry. Horry began to struggle.

"L--l--lemme g--g--get out," he yelled.

"Keep still!" said Sally. "I'll get up and then--oh!" Sally was already part way up. There was a terrible pain in her left leg. She felt dizzy. "I--I think--I'll lie down," she murmured; and she fainted.

Sally opened her eyes presently, and smiled vaguely. The kite was gone, she was lying upon her back and Everett and d.i.c.k were bending over her, while the Carlings and the other small boys gazed in awe-struck silence.

"Where's the kite?" Sally asked weakly. She was not quite herself yet.

"Never mind about the kite, Sally," d.i.c.k answered; "it's broken and I'm glad of it. Where did it hit you?"

"I've a pain in my left leg," said Sally. "It's a pretty hard pain."

Her lips were white as she spoke, and she pressed them together to stop their quivering. She did not mean to cry.

"We'll carry you in," said d.i.c.k.

So he and Everett made a chair by crossing their hands, each hand clasping one of the other boy's. Then they stooped down and Sally managed to sit upon their clasped hands. It was the first time that she had seen this device.

"I'm afraid I shall fall off," she said. "Do you mind if I hold on to you?"

d.i.c.k laughed quietly. "Put your arms round our necks and you won't fall. It's as easy as a cradle."

Sally's color was quite restored and she was conscious of no pain as she made a triumphal progress along Box Elder Street with one arm about d.i.c.k's neck and the other about Everett's. The Carling twins followed closely, Horry absent-mindedly carrying his shoe in his hand, and the other boys came after.

As d.i.c.k and Everett started to carry her upstairs, it was the happiest moment that Sally had ever known.

CHAPTER III

Cousin Patty was in Sally's room. Cousin Patty was not, as it chanced, fully dressed.

"Well, Sally," she said, going towards the door, "I must go. It's almost time for the doctor." She paused an instant, then went on plaintively. "He hasn't been here, except professionally, for a long time--some years. But there was a time when he came often." Miss Hazen sighed involuntarily.

The sigh was long and quivering and it interested Sally. "Oh, Cousin Patty," she said eagerly, "will you tell me about it--about that time, I mean?"

Cousin Patty looked at Sally with the soft light of reminiscence in her eyes. "Oh, well," she replied, with affected carelessness and laughing lightly, "perhaps I will, if you are really interested to hear about it. Now I must go, but I'll be back in a few minutes."

She went out and shut the door; and Sally heard a m.u.f.fled shriek and Cousin Patty's door slammed. An instant later, her own door opened and Doctor Beatty appeared. He was smiling.

"Nearly scared Patty into a fit," he said. "She ought to know my habits by this time."