“No, sir,” answered Bobby.
“Please, Mr. Carter,” said Edward bravely. “It was my pumpkin. I brought it for the poor people. But it was only a hollow one.”
“Well, why did you want to blow it up?” asked Mr. Carter, puzzled. “And what did you do to it to make it blow up, Edward?”
“I didn’t do anything to it,” protested Edward.
“I want to know and I want to know at once, what caused that pumpkin to explode,” said the principal sternly and Tim Roon wished suddenly that he had had nothing to do with it. “Edward!”
“Yes, sir?” poor Edward replied faintly.
“What made your pumpkin explode?” asked Mr. Carter.
“A candle,” said Edward, who really believed that Tim Roon had put a candle in his pumpkin. “They said a hollow pumpkin had to have a candle in it.”
“Nonsense,” declared Mr. Carter. “No candle ever exploded. Who put the candle in your pumpkin?”
Bobby thought “telling tales” under any circumstances, the most dreadful thing anyone could do. He did hope that Edward would not give Tim away. Tim had the same hope, but he did not trust the fat boy. Instead, he leaned against him and pinched him.