above her head; birds sang; a saucy squirrel
ran to the end of a branch, and chippered to her as she passed. But Mell
saw none of these things. She was too anxious and unhappy to enjoy what
on any other day would have been a great pleasure; and she passed the
flowers, the berries, and the chattering squirrel unheeded by.

No signs of the children appeared, till at last, in a marshy place, a
small shoe was seen sticking in the mud. Belinda's shoe! Mell knew it
in a minute.

She picked up the shoe, wiped the mud from it with a tuft of dried
grass, and, carrying it in her hand, went forward. She was on the track
now, and here and there prints of small feet in the earth guided her.
She called "Tommy! Isaphine! Belinda!" but no answer came. They were
either hidden cleverly, or else they had wandered a longer distance than
seemed possible in so short a time.

Suddenly Mell gave a shriek and a jump. There on the path before her lay
a snake, or what looked like one. It did not move. Mell grew bold and
went nearer. Alas! alas! it was not a snake. It was a pigtail of braided
hair,--Isaphine's hair: the red color was unmistakable. She seized it. A
smell of kerosene met her nose. Oh that Tommy!

With the pigtail coiled inside of the lost shoe, Mell ran on. She was
passing a thicket of sassafras bushes, when a sound of crying met her
ears. Instantly she stopped, and, parting the bushes with her hands,
peered in. There they were, sitting in a little circle close
together,--Arabella and Gabella Sarah fast asleep, with their heads in
Belinda's lap; Isaphine crying; Tommy sitting a little apart, an evil
smile on his face, in his hand a pair of scissors!

"You naughty, naughty, naughty boy," screamed Mell, flinging herself
upon him.

With a howl of terror, Tommy started up and prepared to flee. Mell
caught and held him tight. Something flew from his lap and fell to the
ground. Alas! alas! three more pigtails. Mell looked at the children.
Each little head was cropped close. What _would_ mother say?

"He cut off my hair," sobbed Isaphine.

"So did he cut mine," whined Belinda. "He took those nassy scissors you
told him not to take, and he cut off all our hairs. Boo-hoo! boo-hoo!
Tommy's a notty boy, he is."

"I'm going to tell Ma when she comes home, see if I don't," added
Isaphine.

"I ain't a bad boy," cried Tommy. "Stop a-shaking of me, Mell Davis. We
was playing they was sheep. I was a-shearing of em."

"O Tommy, Tommy!"