“Goin’ to tie up the cat?” came from a third.
“Going to have some spaghetti for supper?” said a fourth.
“Goin’ to fish for minnows through the ice with it?” asked still another.
“No, we’re goin’ to tie up a pound of candy for our dear teacher,” Bennie replied. “Come on, Spider, these guys are too bright for us.”
“Don’t trip over your skipping rope, dearie,” taunted one of the scouts. Bennie hurled a snowball at him and then he and Spider dodged away from a shower of pursuing missiles.
“Well, they didn’t learn much that time,” Spider laughed, as they entered Bennie’s back yard, went into the barn, and threw an end of the rope over a rafter, so that both ends dangled to the floor.
“Now we’ll try coming down the doubled rope,” said Bennie.
He climbed out on the rafter, grasped both strands of the rope, and slid down. Spider followed him.
At the bottom they surveyed their bare palms ruefully.
“Feels as if it was full of splinters,” said Bennie.