nowhere in sight. Where was the watermelon? Surely three people couldn't
have eaten all of it in one meal! Oh, there it was in the cooler and not
even cut. She stood contemplating it for a moment, then with a deft
motion rolled it out on the floor. It was so heavy she could scarcely
lift it. She looked around for something to assist her, and her eye fell
upon an empty flour-sack which Aunt Maria had left on top of the barrel,
evidently intending to wash it out. Seizing this, she spread it open
beside the melon, rolled the great green ball inside, and dragged the
trophy out of doors up the rocky path to the road and out of sight among
the boulders. There she stood and surveyed the bag while she wrestled
with herself.

"He said I lied, and I didn't. It wasn't a fight, for Jerome never hit
me at all. It takes two to make a fight. Miss Brooks says so. He's
always telling me I lie. He never said I couldn't have some melon today.
Maybe if I had left it alone he would have given me some. Perhaps I'd
better take it back."

She stooped over, grabbed the end of the bag and started back down the
trail again, but at the first step she stopped. It was the wrong end of
the sack she had clutched, and the melon had rolled out into the sand.

"Oh, gracious! However did that happen?" she exclaimed aloud in horror,
gazing with fascinated eyes at the battered, hopelessly scarred ball
which had once been so smooth and round and green. Scarcely a bit of the
skin remained on its sides, and a great, jagged crack almost split the
thing in halves.

"Now, I've done it! What will Dad say? Guess I'll get a licking this
time sure. Well, he needn't have said I lied. Serves him right that his
old melon is spoiled. It's a pity to waste it, though. Guess I better
eat it. If I am going to get licked, I may as well have the melon first;
maybe it won't hurt so bad. It looks perfectly beautiful inside."

Down beside the shattered fruit she sat and began munching the red,
sweet, juicy pulp which smelled oh, so good! But somehow the taste was
bitter in her mouth, and the tempting morsels choked her when she tried
to swallow them. She reviewed the previous day's happenings and began to
wonder if she were entirely blameless. She had promised Mr. Carson not
to get mad when folks teased her, and here she had not only got mad but
had hurt Jerome, defied the teacher and stepped on her toes, wounded
faithful Carrie by running away from her, angered her father an