On hearing this Pee-Wee desisted from any further criticism. For, as
he told Pepsy, "a scout has to be kind and forgiving, and besides when I
go to the carnival I can plug him in the face with a baseball two or
three times and then we'll be square."


CHAPTER XVII

HARD TIMES

If many people went to the carnival they must have approached it
from the other direction. It was a small carnival and probably did not
attract much interest outside of Berryville. A few stragglers passed
Mr. Quig's farm traveling in buckboards and farm wagons, but they did
not come from distant parts and evidently were not hungry,

Some were so unscrupulous as to bring their lunches with them. One
reckless farmer, indeed, bought a doughnut and exchanged it for another
with a smaller hole.

Altogether the neighboring carnival did not bring much business to
Pee-Wee and Pepsy. Aunt Jamsiah took their enterprise good-naturedly;
Uncle Ebenezer said it was a good thing to keep the children out of
mischief. Miss Bellison, the young school teacher, bought ten cents'
worth of taffy each day as a matter of duty, and Beriah Bungel, the
town constable, being a natural born grafter, helped himself to
everything he wanted free of charge.

So the pleasant summer days passed and brought them little business.
Occasionally some lonely auto would crawl along the foliage-arched road,