t sick, are you? Tell Rosie."

"It hurts! It hurts!" Jack was sitting up, wailing dolefully. He reached
toward Rosie in a helpless, appealing way that warmed her heart.
Whatever was the matter, it was bringing him back to her.

"What is it hurts, Jackie?"

"My back! It burns! I tell you it's just burnin' up!"

Rosie gently lifted off his nightshirt and held the candle close.

"Jackie! What's happened to your back and shoulders? They're all red and
swollen! What did those Slattery boys do to you?"

"They didn't do nuthin', Rosie, honest they didn't. Ouch! Ouch! Can't
you do something to make it stop hurting?"

"Wait a minute, Jackie, and I'll call Jarge Riley. Jarge'll know what to
do."

George came at once and as quickly recognized Jack's ailment. "Ha, ha,
Jack, old boy, how's your sunburn? Jiminy, you've got a good one this
time!... Say, how's the water?"

[Illustration: Rosie gently lifted off his nightshirt and held the
candle close.]

"Ugh-h-h!" moaned Jack. "It hurts!" Then with a change of voice he
answered George enthusiastically: "Dandy! Just as warm and nice as
anything!"

George sighed. "Golly! Wisht I was a kid again! There sure is no place
like the old swimmin'-hole in the good old summer-time!"

Rosie glared indignantly. "Jarge Riley, ain't you ashamed of yourself!
It's dangerous to go in swimming and you know it is! Jackie's never
going in again, are you, Jackie?"

Jack snuffled tearfully: "My back hurts! Can't some o' you do something
for it?"

Rosie turned stiffly to George. "What I called you up here for was to
ask you what's good for a sunburnt back."

"Excuse me," murmured George meekly. "Let's see now: We ought to put on
some oil or grease, then some powder or flour."

"Will lard do?" Rosie still spoke coldly.

"Yes, but vaseline would be better. There's a bottle of vaseline on my
bureau. Do you want to get it, Rosie?"

Rosie hurried off and returned just in time to hear George say: "Oh, you
can go in again in two or three days."

Rosie blazed on him furiously. "Jarge Riley, what are you telling
Jackie?"

"I?" He spoke with an assumption of innocence and that look of
guilelessness which Rosie was fast learning to associate with male
deceit. "I was just telling him it would take a couple o' days for his
back to peel. Then he'll be all right again."

Rosie looked at him in scorn, but made no comment. She resolved one
thing: George Riley should have no more moments alone with