ug, laughing uproariously.

For a moment Dic allowed himself to grow angry, and said, "I'll knock
that pumpkin off your shoulders," but at once regretted his words.

Doug thought Dic's remark very funny, and intimated as much. Then he
bowed his head in front of our hero and said, "Here is the pumpkin; hit
it if you dare."

Dic restrained an ardent desire, and Doug still with bowed head
continued, "I'll give you a shillin' if you'll hit it, and if you don't,
I'll break your stuck-up face."

Dic did not accept the shilling, which was not actually tendered in
lawful coin, but stepped back from Doug that he might be prepared for
the attack he expected. After waiting what he considered to be a
reasonable time for Dic to accept his offer, Doug started toward our
hero, looking very ugly and savage. Dic was strong and brave, but he
seemed small beside his bulky antagonist, and Rita, frightened out of
all sense of propriety, ran to her champion, and placing her back
against his breast, faced Doug with fear and trembling. The girl was not
tall enough by many inches to protect Dic's face from the breaking Doug
had threatened; but what she lacked in height she made up in terror,
and she looked so "skeert," as Doug afterwards said, that he turned upon
his heel with the remark:--

"That's all right. I was only joking. We don't want no fight at a church
social, do we, Dic?"

"I don't particularly want to fight any place," replied Dic, glad that
the ugly situation had taken a pleasant turn.

"Reckon you don't," returned Doug, uproariously, and the game proceeded.

Partly from disinclination, and partly because he wanted to talk to
Rita, Dic did not at first enter the game, but during an intermission
Sukey whispered to him:--

"We are going to play Drop the Handkerchief, and if you'll come in I'll
drop it behind you every time, and--" here the whispers became very low
and soft, "I'll let you catch me, too. We'll make pumpkin-head sick."

The game of skill known as "Drop the Handkerchief" was played in this
fashion: a circle of boys and girls was formed in the centre of the
room, each person facing the centre. One of the number was chosen "It."
"It's" function was to walk or run around the circle and drop the
handkerchief behind the chosen one. If "It" happened to be a young man,
the chosen one, of course, was a young woman who immediately started in
pursuit. If she caught the young man before he could run around the
circle t