e followed him down
the halls and the long stairs calculating to a nicety just how she would
get even. The moment they passed through the outside door, the boy
turned for a parting taunt. He did not get it out. Before he could utter
a single sound Chicken Little struck him a resounding slap in the face
with all her young might.

The youngster would have hit back, but another boy grabbed him and
ordered him roughly to let little girls alone. And Chicken Little went
home ashamed but solaced.

She was nervous for a while lest her mother should hear of her scrape.
However, several days went by and she was beginning to breathe easier,
when Brother Frank overtook her one morning on her way to school.

"Hello, Sis, what is this I hear about having a prize-fighter in the
family?"

Jane's face grew hot, but she looked at him mutely.

"I thought it was only rough boys who smashed in people's noses and made
them bleed. I didn't suppose my gentle little sister would do such a
thing."

Chicken Little swallowed hard but still kept silent and Frank pressed
harder.

"I have always believed my little sister was a lady. I am afraid Mother
will be grieved to hear what her daughter has been doing."

Words came to Chicken Little at last in a burst of sobs:

"I don't care--he took my candy--I had to stand--on--on the floor--and
it wasn't fair--you can just go and tell Mother if you want to!"

Frank took her hand and patted it.

"Out with the whole story, Sis. I suspected there was something more to
it than I heard--you aren't usually warlike."

So Chicken Little sobbed out the woeful tale. Brother Frank smiled
broadly above the bent head over the ludicrous incident, but he
controlled himself sufficiently to admonish soberly.

"Well, Johnny seems to have deserved all he got. At the same time, Jane,
I don't think I'd do such a thing again, if I were you."

CHAPTER X

SKATING

Chicken Little watched Ernest tie his red muffler around his neck and
sling his skates across his shoulder, enviously.

"I wish I could go skating," she sighed.

"You shall some day, dear," said her mother, who was sitting sewing by
the open fire. "But the pond is too far away for you to go without some
older person to look after you."

"I don't see why Ernest and Carol couldn't look after me."

"They would forget you in ten minutes. No, you must be patient, little
daughter, and wait till you are bigger."

Chicken Little flattened her n