10 THE ACORN ELY'S PRACTICAL JOKE. (One who is the butt of his companions coming out superior to them.) Eli Grundy, a large, awkward, loose-jointed fellow, with yellow, towsly hair, had lately started to the district school. From the very first day he came, the boys had made their chief delight as they said, "to make it uncomfortable for the guy." He was about five feet, eight inches tall and was still growing, evidently, for his coat sleeves were nearer his elbows than his wrists, and his trousers came up above his shoe-tops. Although his appearance was not very striking, Eli had a big heart. He was good natured and loved to help any one to whom his little services would be of use, and had the boys permitted him, he would have been their best friend. School was hard for Eli, but he could learn by persevering, and what he did learn he never forgot. The teacher had offered a prize, a gold medal, for the best composition, but very few were going to try for it. They all "knew Dave Grall 'd get it, cause he's as bright as a silver dollar on a sun-shiney day." Dave Grail was considered the head of the class. He was quick to learn and studied but very little. He was fiery tempered and would not stand for one minute to have anyone make sport of him; but he was one of these "smart-alecs" who delight in tormenting such boys as Eli. Dave and his companion, Tom Dallet, who always joined with him in everything he did, were the only ones who had volunteered to try for the prize, but the teacher had finally coaxed Eli to try also. As Eli shambled home from school one day, after every one else had gone, he found in the center of the road, near the river, a box neatly wrapped. He picked it up, unwrapped it, and curiously lifted the lid. Then screaming with pain, he went running down the road, waving his arms wildly in all directions, for the box had been filled with hornets which, angry at their imprisonment, were taking revenge on their deliverer. As he neared the place along the river where the willows grew THE ACORN 11 thickest, he heard a suppressed giggle from the thicket. He guessed at once that his old tormentors, Tom and Dave had set a trap for him. This joke was beyond Eli's good nature, and he was determined to have revenge. The boys knew this, by the sullen way in which he went about the school next day; so they said but very little about his "lumpy face." One week more was all the time they had to prepare their compositions, so every minute, aside from his lessons and daily tasks, Eli spent in writing his composition. If Dave had put more time in thought and less in mischief with his companions, he would, very likely, have won the prize as he had anticipated. The result, however, was not as he had hoped; nor was Tom, who was thought by the school to be nearly as bright as Dave, the one to receive the reward, for Eli's hard work had brought him to the head. To think that he had really come out ahead of Tom and Dave gave Eli great satisfaction. Nevertheless he still held hard feelings against them, and had not given up the idea that the first chance he got he would return their joke; one that they would like no better than he did the box of hornets. It was in the spring, near the close of school, before he saw, or rather made, his opportunity to "get even." The boys had planned one Saturday morning for a fishing trip two or three miles up the river. As thev were on their way, they saw Eli hard at work in the fields. They had not invited him to go with then, but they "hollered" over to him, "O, Lanky-shanks, ain't you a-goin', too?" That night, after his work was done, Eli started up the river to find the boys. He did not know what he would do when he got there, only that he would in some way make Tom and Dave wish they had left him completely alone. It was dusk when he found the boys. They had eaten their supper and were making preparations for bed. He had not yet thought of what he should do, so he went and sat behind a clump of willows, by the river. The tent was not far away and he heard very distinctly everything that was said. They were quarreling about where to make their beds. Just as they had agreed that Tom and Dave were to be bed fellows and have the east side of the tent, a big crawfish crawled near to the edge of the water in front of Eli. As he