s of
activity deep inside him, he paused for breath--and the cool, sweet
cadences of the watermelon man fell delectably upon his ear:

"Ice-cole WATER-melon; ice-cole water-MELON; the biggest slice of
ICE-cole, ripe, red, ICE-cole, rich an' rare; the biggest slice of
ice-cole watermelon ever cut by the hand of man! BUY our ICE-cole
water-melon?"

Penrod, having drained the last drop of cider, complied with the
watermelon man's luscious entreaty, and received a round slice of
the fruit, magnificent in circumference and something over an inch in
thickness. Leaving only the really dangerous part of the rind behind
him, he wandered away from the vicinity of the watermelon man and
supplied himself with a bag of peanuts, which, with the expenditure of a
dime for admission, left a quarter still warm in his pocket. However, he
managed to "break" the coin at a stand inside the tent, where a large,
oblong paper box of popcorn was handed him, with twenty cents change.
The box was too large to go into his pocket, but, having seated himself
among some wistful Polack children, he placed it in his lap and devoured
the contents at leisure during the performance. The popcorn was heavily
larded with partially boiled molasses, and Penrod sandwiched mouthfuls
of peanuts with gobs of this mass until the peanuts were all gone. After
that, he ate with less avidity; a sense almost of satiety beginning
to manifest itself to him, and it was not until the close of the
performance that he disposed of the last morsel.

He descended a little heavily to the outflowing crowd in the arena, and
bought a caterwauling toy balloon, but showed no great enthusiasm in
manipulating it. Near the exit, as he came out, was a hot-waffle stand
which he had overlooked, and a sense of duty obliged him to consume the
three waffles, thickly powdered with sugar, which the waffle man cooked
for him upon command.

They left a hottish taste in his mouth; they had not been quite up to
his anticipation, indeed, and it was with a sense of relief that he
turned to the "hokey-pokey" cart which stood close at hand, laden with
square slabs of "Neapolitan ice-cream" wrapped in paper. He thought the
ice-cream would be cooling, but somehow it fell short of the desired
effect, and left a peculiar savour in his throat.

He walked away, too languid to blow his balloon, and passed a
fresh-taffy booth with strange indifference. A bare-armed man was
manipulating the taffy over a hoo