[Illustration]

Then the delightful flat surface tempted her to further exploits. She
picked up a splinter of driftwood and, making a wide flourish, began
to draw a picture. "See," she called rapturously to Dan, "this is
going to be a pig! Here 's his nose, and here 's his curly tail, and
here are his little fat legs." She clapped her hands with admiration.
"Now I shall do something else," she announced as she finished the pig
with a round red pebble stuck in for the eye. "Let me see. What shall
I draw? Oh, I know! A picture of Gran'ther Wattles! Look, Dan." She
made a careful stroke. "Here 's his nose, and here 's his chin. They are
monstrous near together because he has nothing but gums between! And
here 's his long tithing-stick with the squirrel-tail on the end!"

[Illustration]

"It doth bear a likeness to him!" admitted Dan, laughing in spite of
himself, "but, sister, thou shouldst not mock him. He is an old man,
and we should pay respect to gray hairs. Father says so."

"Truly I have as much of respect as he hath of hair," answered naughty
Nancy. "His poll is nearly as bald as an egg."

"I know the cause of thy displeasure," declared Dan. "Gran'ther
Wattles poked thee for bouncing about during the sermon last Sunday.
But it is unseemly to bounce in the meeting-house, and besides, is he
not the tithing-man? 'T is his duty to see that people behave as they
should."

"He would mayhap have bounced himself if a bee had been buzzing about