knew of with a jackknife, and
he knew all about jack-o'-lanterns; but they all had learned more by the
time they had worked up four of the smaller pumpkins.

"They look more like big apples alongside that other."

"That's the King Pumpkin."

"That's it," shouted Prop. "We'll make the King Jack-o'-lantern. I'll
show you! Phil, you run to the house for a big iron spoon."

"To scoop with? I know. The rind'll be awful thick."

So they found it; and the outer shell was so hard that Phil went to the
tool-room after one of his father's small key saws and a gimlet.

"Now we won't break our knives, nor the shell either."

"Nor cut our fingers. But we must keep every piece of shell we cut out,"
said Prop. "I've got a big idea in my head."

"Big as that pumpkin?"

"Big as the whole Sewing Society. We want a piece out of the top first,
about six inches square."

The top piece came out nicely, and it was a wonder what a mass of seeds
and pulp was pulled out after it.

Then the spoon was plied till the boys all had a turn at getting tired
of scraping, and then Prop Corning went to work with the little saw.

"I'll just cut through the rind," he said, "and we won't make a hole
anywhere. We'll cut the pieces out so they'll all stick in again, and
then we'll scoop the places thin from the inside--thin as we want 'em,
and no thinner. When we come to light it up out here after dark, and try
it, we can scrape any spots thinner if they need it."

"That's the way. You never know just how a jack-o'-lantern's going to
look till after you've got a candle in it," said Clint Burgess, very
seriously. "We must make this one so it would scare a cow if she'd been
eating pumpkins all day."

"There," remarked Prop, "that round spot down there'll stand for his
chin. Now for his mouth. We must make it turn up at the corners, and
have teeth like a mill saw."

That was the hardest kind of a thing to do, and do it right; but Prop
was a patient worker, and there was nothing to be said against such a
mouth as he sawed for that pumpkin.

"He mustn't have too much nose. Two round holes at the bottom: they're
his smellers. Then a long slit away up to above his eyes; that's the
bridge of his nose, and they'll have to imagine the rest of it."

"Can we give him any cheeks?" asked Phil, doubtfully.

"Yes, but there mustn't too much light come through 'em. It's to be a
Goblin King, and they always have most fire coming out of their mouths
and ey