"Alec!" his father gasped. "What the dickens!"
"Did I scare you?" Alec grinned.
"What in tarnation is that thing?" his father demanded.
"A bull-roarer," said Alec. "Gramps showed me how to make it."
He showed them an oak stick whose ends were whittled to thin blades that slanted in different directions. When he whirled it around his head, the thin blades made the unearthly noise.
"Shall I show you how it works?" Alec asked.
"Put your toy away," Cindy said loftily. "We're going to Plains City tomorrow."