“Why not?”
“’Cause he might get tangled in the tail and sail up in the air.”
So Baby William was left with his mother when Jan and Ted went over to Jimmie Dell’s house the next day to fly the big kite. It was quite a large one—almost as tall as Ted himself—but as there was a good wind the boys thought it would go up all right. They tied the string to it, made the tail, and then while Jimmie held it up off the ground Ted ran, holding the ball of cord in his hand.
The kite went up a little distance in the air, and then gave a sudden downward dive.
“What’s the matter?” asked Jan. “What made it do that?”
“Not enough tail on,” answered Jimmie. “Wait a minute, I’ll fix it.”
Not wanting to wait to get more string and pieces of cloth from which the tail was made, Jimmie fastened on a bunch of weeds he pulled up from the spot where he was standing.
“That will make it heavier, and then the kite won’t dip and dive,” he said. “All ready now!” he called to Ted. “Start and run!”
Ted ran, letting out string from the ball he carried in his hand. The kite went up a little way and then gave another sudden dive, right down near a place where some chickens and an old rooster were picking bugs and worms from the grass. The chickens gave frightened squawks and ran away with fluttering wings.
“Oh, dear!” cried Jan, who was watching the boys. “It’s going to come down again!”