CHAPTER XX
THE JUMPING ROPE
"My kite's higher than yours," said Laddie, as he looked at hisplaything, away up in the air, and then at his brother's.
"Well, I haven't let out all my string yet," Russ answered. "I can makemine go up a lot higher than yours when I unwind some more cord, and I'mgoing to."
"I'm going to send up another messenger," said Laddie. "I haven't gotany more string to let out, but maybe I could get some."
He took a small piece of paper, put a hole in it, and then slippedthrough this hole the stick to which his kite cord was tied. Then thepiece of paper went sailing up the kite string, twirling around andaround until it was half way to the kite itself.
"Look at my messenger go!" cried Laddie, as the piece of paper whirledaround and around in a brisk breeze. "Why don't you send up one, and wecan have a race?"
"I will!" exclaimed Russ. "We'll have a race with the paper messengers,and then I'll get some more string, and send my kite higher."
"So'll I," decided Laddie. "Oh, Russ, we can even have a race with thekites!" he went on. "We'll see whose kite will go highest."
"Yes, we can do that," agreed the older boy. "Now I'll make amessenger."
So Russ did that, and as the messenger Laddie had put on was, by thistime, nearly up to his kite, he put another on the string. The boys heldthem from going up until both were ready, and then, just as when theysometimes had a foot race, Russ cried:
"Go!"
They took their hands off the paper messengers, and up the strings theyshot, the wind blowing them very fast.
"Look at 'em go! Look at 'em!" cried Laddie, dancing about in delight.
"And you'd better look out and not let go of your kite string, orthat'll go, too," said Russ. "Your kite'll fly away same as Rose'sballoon airship did."
"I wonder if they'd go to the same place," said Laddie. "If my kitewould be sure to fly to where Rose let the balloons fly to I'd let itgo."
"Why would you?" asked Russ.
"'Cause then I could find Rose's doll for her. I could walk along by mykite string and keep on going and going and going, and then I'd come tothe place where the kite was and there would be the basket with the dollin it."
"Yes, that would be nice," said Russ. "But I don't guess they'd go tothe same place. You'd better hold on to your kite."
"I will," agreed Laddie. "I wonder how high we could let our kites goup?" he went on, as he watched the messengers whirling around thestrings. "How far would they go?"
"They'd go as far as you had cord for," said Russ.
"Could they go away up to the sky?" asked Laddie.
"'Course they could," said Russ.
"The sky's awful far," went on Laddie, looking up at the blue part,across which the white, fleecy clouds were flying.
"Yes, it's far," assented Russ. "But we could get an awful lot ofstring, and let the kites go up."
"Could we do it now?" the smaller boy wanted to know. "I'd like to seemy kite go up to the sky."
"Well, we could do it," Russ said. "But look! My messenger beat yours!"he suddenly cried. "It's away ahead!"
"So it is," assented Laddie. "Well, anyhow, I've got more of 'em up thanyou have."
"Now I'm going to get a lot of cord and send my kite up high," announcedRuss, as he got up from the grass where he was sitting.
"Are you going to take your kite down?" his brother wanted to know.
Russ shook his head.
"I'm going to tie my kite string to a stone," he said. "That'll keep itfrom blowing away while I go into the house to get more cord. You watchmy kite while I'm gone."
"I will," promised Laddie. "I'll tie my kite, too."
Russ tied the end of his cord to a heavy stone in the vacant lot nearAunt Jo's house, in which the boys were flying their kites. Laddie satdown on the grass, and looked up at the kites, which were like twobirds, high in the air. Russ was gone some little time. It was harderthan he thought it would be to find the right kind of cord. But he hadmade up his mind to send his kite up in the air as high as it would go,and he wanted plenty of string.
Suddenly Laddie, who was watching his own and his brother's kites,noticed that Russ's was acting very strangely. It bobbed and flutteredabout a bit, and then began to sink down.
"I've got to pull on the cord," thought Laddie. Though he was youngerthan Russ he knew enough for this--when a kite starts to come down, torun with it, or to wind the cord in quickly. There wasn't much room inthe vacant city lot to run, so Laddie began winding in the string ofRuss's kite.
Then Laddie noticed that his own kite was bobbing about and coming downalso.
"Oh, dear!" exclaimed the little boy. "I can't wind 'em both in atonce. I wish Russ would come!"
But Russ was still back at Aunt Jo's house, and Laddie, much as hewanted to save his brother's kite, wanted even more to save his own.
So Laddie let go of the string of his brother's kite, and began to pullin on his own. As he did so Russ's sank lower and lower, falling like aleaf, from side to side.
But as Laddie pulled on his cord his kite went higher and higher intothe air, until, getting to a place higher up, where the wind was blowingstronger, it was out of danger.
But Russ's kite floated lower and lower, and Laddie dared not let go hisown string to pull in his brother's. Just then Russ came running backwith the cord he at last had found.
"Where's my kite?" he cried, as he reached the lot, and did not see hiskite in the air.
"It started to come down, and so did mine, but I couldn't pull 'emboth," said his brother. "I'm sorry, but----"
"Oh, well, maybe I can pull it up," said Russ, who was not going to findfault with Laddie for what could not be helped. "I'll wind up thestring as fast as I can."
So he did this, and at last he saw his kite come into sight above thehouses in the next street. But the wind, low down, was not strong enoughto carry the kite up again, and Russ saw that it was of no use. His kitestill fluttered from side to side.
"I can't get it up again this way," he said to Laddie. "I've got to pullit all the way down, and then send it up again. And I'll make it goterrible high this time, 'cause I've got a lot of string."
"When mine comes down I'm going to send it up higher," said Laddie. Buthis kite was still well up in the air.
Russ pulled and pulled on his string, and finally he had his kite wherehe could see it. It was floating over the street near the vacant lot,and Russ was pulling it toward him, when, all of a sudden, somethinghappened.
A woman, with a large hat on, was walking along the street, right underRuss's kite. Suddenly the kite swooped down, until the dangling tailtouched the woman's hat. Russ, not seeing what had taken place, kept onpulling on the string, winding it in. And, of course, you can easilyguess what happened.
"Stop! Stop it, little boy!" called the woman. "Stop pulling on yourkite string!"
"What for?" asked Russ, who had been looking at the stick on which hewas winding his cord, wondering if it would be large enough to hold itall.
"Because you're pulling off my hat!"
And that is just what Russ was doing. The tail of the kite had becometangled in the trimming on the woman's hat, and Russ was pulling it offher head.
"Oh, please stop, little boy!" she cried, and she had to run along,following the kite across the street.
Then Russ stopped winding the string, and the woman, putting up herhands, took hold of the kite tail, so it did not quite pull off her hat.But it almost did.
"I--I'm sorry," Russ said, as he saw what had happened.
"Oh, that's all right," the woman answered with a laugh. "You couldn'thelp it. I have a little boy of my own, and he likes to fly his kite,but he never got it tangled in my hat, that I remember. But it's allright. No harm is done. I can pin my hat on again, but my hair is rathermussed up, I'm afraid."
"You could go into my Aunt Jo's house and fix it," said Russ politely."She has a looking-glass."
"Has she? That's nice," said
the lady with another laugh. "But I have alittle one of my own. See!" She opened her purse and showed a tiny,round mirror fastened inside. "If you'll hold that up, so I can seemyself in it, I can put my hat on again and it will be all right," shewent on.
This Russ did. His kite had fallen to the street, but it was not tornand was all right for putting up again. So he held the woman's mirror,which was in her pocketbook, as well as he could, while she smoothed outher hair and straightened her hat. Then, with a smile and a bow, shesaid:
"There! Is it all right?"
"It looks nice--just like my mother's," answered Russ, and the womanlaughed as she took back her purse.
"Did you lose a pocketbook?" asked Russ.
"No," was the answer. "Why do you ask?"
"'Cause my sister Rose found one, and it had some money in, but nobodyever came to get it."
"Well, I hope you can fly your kite again," said the woman, as shewalked away.
Russ picked up his kite and went back to the vacant lot with it. Hetried to fly it, but the wind had gone down, and the toy would not rise.Laddie's, too, had begun to bob about, and he said:
"I guess I'll pull mine down before it falls."
"Well, we had some fun, anyhow," remarked Russ.
It was the next day, a fine, sunny one, that Rose and Violet, havingplayed with their dolls until they were tired, wanted to do somethingelse. Daddy Bunker had taken Russ and Laddie to a moving picture show,but as Rose and Violet had seen it once, they did not want to go again.Margy and Mun Bun were asleep, and the two girls didn't know what toplay.
"I know how to have some fun," said Rose at last.
"How?" asked her sister.
"We can jump rope. I know where there's a piece of clothesline that AuntJo'll let us take."
"How can two of us jump rope?" asked Vi. "We'd both have to turn, so whocould jump?"
"We can tie one end to a tree, and take turns turning," said Rose. "Thenone of us can jump, and whoever misses has to turn for the other."
"Oh, yes, we can do it that way," assented Vi. So the two little girlsran to get the clothesline and soon they were jumping rope.
"It's lots of fun," said Vi, when it was her turn to have "threeslow--pepper," while Rose turned, the other end of the rope being fastto a tree.