"Here, give me the whip!"

He took it out of Chris's surprised and reluctant fingers and began
circling it over his head and giving it a sudden jerk. It didn't crack
at first, but soon he got the knack of it and cracked it loudly as close
to Celia Jane's ears and ankles as he could come without touching her.

"Giddap!" he commanded the dancing pony. "Show your paces." That time he
tried to crack the whip too near Celia Jane and the end of the lash
wound around her leg.

"Oh! Oh!" cried the dancing pony, hopping about on one leg. "That hurt!
It ain't no fair makin' it crack so close an' I won't play no more."
Half crying from the pain, Celia Jane ran to the house, followed by
Nora.

"I didn't mean to hurt you," Darn called to Celia Jane. "The whip must
be a little too long, or I wouldn't have sized up the distance wrong."
He turned to Danny. "What do you think you are?"

"I'm a el'funt," said Danny proudly, "an' I jump the fence like the
circus el'funt."

"An el'funt!" cried Darn, turning his eyes up to the sky. "And he calls
that an' el'funt!"

"It is a el'funt," protested Jerry.

Darn Darner laughed derisively.