d.

Nor was this the worst. As Pee-wee penetrated deeper into the woods
the more terrible was the masquerade of his own enticing signs. His
stenciled cards, deserting their lawful mates, had struck up ghastly
unions with other cards proclaiming frightful items of refreshment to
the appalled wayfarer who was reminded of NON-SKID BANANAS and advised
that OUR PEANUT TAFFY STICKS LIKE GLUE. The faithless TIRE TAPE which
should have surmounted the STICK LIKE GLUE card was nestling under the
fatal EAT, while FRANKFURTERS COLD AND COOLING and ICE CREAM SIZZLING
HOT met Pee-wee's astonished gaze. He stood looking at this awful sequel
of his handiwork.

Most of the cards were besmeared with mud and one or two in such a
freakish way as to give a curious turn to their meaning. On one card a
mischievous little rivulet of mud or wetted ink had ingeniously changed
a T into a crude R and the travelers read RUBES SOLD HERE.

Pee-wee contemplated this exhibition with dismay. Wherever he looked, on
fence or tree, some ridiculous sign stared him in the face. He did not
continue on to the post office but retraced his steps to the refreshment
parlor which was the subject of these printed slanders.

He and Pepsy were discussing this miscarriage of their exploitation
design when a shuffling sound in the distance proclaimed the shambling
approach of the advertising department. And if Pee-wee had not made good
his flaunting boast to handle the six merry maidens, he at least made
amends and regained somewhat of his heroic tradition in his handling of
Licorice Stick.

"What did I tell you to do?" he shouted, his face red with terrible
wrath. "What did I tell you to do? Do you know the way you put those
cards up? You made fools of us, that's what you did!"

"I done gone make no fools of you, no how:" Licorice Stick exclaimed. "I
see a sperrit 'n I shakes like dat, I do. As shu I'm stan' here I see a
sperrit in dem woods."

From a vivid and terrifying narrative the partners made out that
while Licorice Stick was on his way to embellish the wayside in strict
accordance with instructions, he had encountered a spirit from the
other world in the form of the carnival clown whom we have seen pass our
wayside rest.

The ghostly raiment of this lowly humorist and the motley decoration of
his face had so frightened Licorice Stick that he had dropped his cards
and retreated frantically into the woods. When the awful apparition had
passed he hid ste