etting Palmer inspect his eye,
which was rapidly swelling. "Mr. Carter would stop the fight if he
heard about the ball."

CHAPTER VII

A BIRTHDAY PARTY

Palmer knew this to be true, for Mr. Carter had expressly said that at
the first sign of unfair play the battle would be called off. He made
few rules for his pupils, but those he did make were never to be
lightly broken.

"I'll bet that Tim Roon threw it!" stormed Meg. "You wait!"

Meg was very quick to think and to act, and the sight of her favorite
brother, one blue eye almost closed, roused her to strong measures.

"Come on, and rush 'em!" she cried, her little arms waving like
windmills. "Don't stand here, throwing balls. Let's capture their old
fort!"

For an instant they stared at her, and then, the idea appealing, the
whole Black army poured over the side of the fort, and charged on the
enemy, shrieking wildly. Bobby, who could barely see where he was
going, was swept along with the rest.

Upstairs in the schoolhouse, the teachers looked at each other in
surprise, and Mr. Carter was equally astonished.

"Surrender!" shouted Meg, the first to leap the wall of the Orange fort.

The Orange army simply backed. It was very funny to see them. They
had not expected an open attack, and they were too taken by surprise to
guard their piles of ammunition. As the opposing forces climbed their
wall they dumbly gave way and moved back, back, till, with a cry of
joy, the Black fighters swooped upon the orderly mounds of snowballs.
With their ammunition gone, of course the Oranges could do nothing less
than give in.

Mr. Carter came up laughing.

"Well, Tim, that was a surprise attack for fair, wasn't it?" he asked
pleasantly. "I think we'll have to say the Black side won.
Congratulations, Bobby. And now, Generals, shake hands, and the
biggest fight in Oak Hill school history will be over."

Tim put out his lip stubbornly.

"I didn't know it was fair to play like that," he argued sourly. "We
could have taken their fort easy, if you'd said that was the way to
play. 'Sides Meg Blossom put 'em to it. Bobby hadn't a thing to do
with that."

"Yes, Meg did," said Bobby hurriedly, trying to edge out of the crowd.
"She really won the war."

"Just one moment," Mr. Carter spoke coolly, and yet there was an odd
little snap in his voice that made every boy and girl turn toward him.
"Look at me, please, Bobby. What happened to your eye?"

"Oh, ge