"Oh! no, sir, it wasn't I," said Billy, frightened. "I--I've only just come." "Well, maybe not; goodness knows, though, you're ugly enough. Where are you going?" [Illustration: "_Come, now, don't give me any of your tomato sauce._"--Page 39.] "I'm taking a message to Bogie Man, sir; and--and I really must go at once. Good bye." "Oh! ho! so you're the boy Bumbus warned me about last night. I guess you'll have to stay here," said the Tomato threateningly. This made Billy angry. "I guess not," he said, and gave a great jump into the air. "Not so fast, Mr. Rubber Ball, not so fast," said the Tomato in Billy's ear. And though Billy was many, many feet away from the ground, Tomato's vines had grown right up to him, while one of his tendrils had wound itself about his feet. Not only that but hundreds of other tomatoes, not quite so large as the first one it is true, but large enough to frighten Billy, were shaking their heads at him threateningly. But Billy plucked up his courage and said in a voice that was a wee bit shaky, "Come, now, don't give me any of your tomato sauce; if you're not careful I'll squash you." "Even then I'd be some pumpkins," shouted the Tomato, nearly bursting with rage, "and as everybody knows a well red tomato is not a greeny, I certainly should be able to catsup with a small boy." "You ought to go on the stage," said Billy, trying to smile; "you really are very funny." This seemed to mollify the Tomato. "Some of my family have gone on as soupers. What would you suggest for me, comedy or tragedy?" "Comedy, by all means," answered Billy, settling himself more comfortably on a large leaf, because, of course, having stopped moving, he would have fallen had he had nothing to support him. "I can recite," said the Tomato. "Don't you want to hear me?" "I'd be delighted, only, you know, I'm late, and--" "You will be the late lamented if you don't sit tight, my boy," said the Tomato, sourly. "Listen." TOMATO'S RECITATION. "There lived a wicked Wenket once, Who kept a castle keep, And when he wasn't wide awake You'd find him fast asleep. He ate his food with knife and fork, And I am loath to state, He wore a shoe upon each foot, A hat upon his pate. Of course it's hard to give belief So sinful one could be; But oft he wore a collar too, Betwixt just you and me. And think of this--I blush with shame To tell this awful truth-- He wore a coat and vest and pants-- How horribly uncouth!!! But wickedness _will_ get its due, As sure as corn is corn. He went to bed one stormy night And got up in the morn. Now little boys and little girls, This tale a moral bears: Don't strike the baby with an axe Or throw the cat down stairs." "Good," said Billy, "it really must be very funny indeed when it is well done," and pop he had jumped on Tomato's head, given a quick spring, and had sailed off before Tomato realized what he was up to.