tmas excitement.

Chicken Little went over to see Katy and Gertie in the morning but
promptly quarreled with Katy over the respective merits of their
Christmas presents. Katy had some new coral beads with a gold clasp that
she considered put Chicken Little's bracelet entirely in the shade so
Chicken Little gathered up her playthings and went home in high dudgeon,
and had to nurse her wrath in lonely state till evening.

Ernest went skating with the boys in the morning. The three cronies
distinguished themselves by promptly getting into trouble with a crowd
of Irish boys, who lived beyond the railroad in the new addition.

The Irish boys resented a certain irritating air of superiority that
Ernest and his friends assumed and began a series of petty annoyances,
bumping into them or crossing from the side just in front while they
were racing. The boys contented themselves at first with warning off
their tormentors by highhanded threats but the other lads outnumbering
them grew more and more daring, till finally a boy named Pat Casey,
deliberately tripped Carol, sending him sprawling on the ice. He was
pretty badly shaken up and broke a skate strap. The trio considered this
insult past endurance and a free-for-all fight ensued.

The trio were game, but they were outnumbered and would have fared badly
if two older boys hadn't come to the rescue and driven the other gang
off the pond. The Irish boys vowed vengeance and Ernest and his friends
deciding that caution was the better part of valor, started for home.
Ernest's nose had bled freely and Sherm had a black eye, while Carol
plaintively declared that every inch of his fat anatomy was black and
blue.

They slipped into the kitchen at Morton's and got Alice to patch them
up. After a good dinner their courage rose. Ernest had been ordered to
split wood for an hour in the afternoon and the other boys took turns
with him at the axe, while the three planned vengeance on their enemies.

"I saw Pat and Mike Dolan slinking past your house when I came over,"
reported Sherm excitedly. "I bet they're up to some devilment, I just
wish they'd show their ugly mugs here--I guess we'd fix 'em!"

Sherm's wish was answered with startling promptness for at that moment
the "ugly mugs" just mentioned appeared over the alley fence, and their
owners uttered hoots of derision. The boys bolted with one accord for
the fence, but their enemies were half-way down the alley, delivering a
volley