"You sentenced him yourself," stammered the surprised man.
"Well, I'll let him off this time," she replied slowly, "but he will have to pay for those melons."
"How much?"
"A dollar each."
"Whew! They are pretty expensive fruit, aren't they?"
"I've put more'n a dollar's worth of trouble into getting them ready for the Fair, and now he's et up my blue ribbon."
"Your blue ribbon?"
"Yes, maybe those melons would have won a blue ribbon. Now I'll never know."
"Well, well, that's too bad," sympathized the amused Judge. "Hector will have to pay for them, surely. Son, go get the money out of your bank."
"I didn't eat all of them. Jimmy Jones and Ted Fenton and the Beldon boys helped," said Hector, wiping his eyes sullenly.