It was coming, Prudy feared--her sister's naughty temper. She saw a shadow no larger than a man's hand; but it would not do to let it grow. She must brush it away at once. "Let's play something in the house," said she, quickly. "All right," returned Johnny; "only not sit down." "Yes, let's _do_ sit down," interposed Dotty, with a view to thwarting Johnny. "Suppose we play Hindoo," suggested Prudy, "if we can get Susy and Flossy into it." "Play what?" "Why, play we are Hindoos, and live away off in the Indian Ocean." "Fishes or sharks?" asked Johnny, growing interested. "O, _people_; and they act so queer. Mother played it with us once, when Susy had the toothache." The older girls were hard to be persuaded. They did not like to leave their shell-work; but they came at last. "Johnny shall be Joggo," said Susy; "that's a boy's name; Prudy will be 'Drop of Honey,' and Flossy 'Young Beauty,' and Dotty 'Summer Moon,' and I 'Onno.'" "'Young Beauty' 's the prettiest," said Dotty; "if I can't play that, I'd rather stay with my birdie, and not play." "Why," cried Susy, "how foo--;" but catching Prudy's eye, she added, "you may as well be Young Beauty; Flossy wouldn't mind. But now I think of it, Prudy, we can't play school, for girls don't go to school in India." "Make believe you are boys, then," observed Johnny, whose interest in the game had flagged since he knew that Hindoos were not sharks. "We'll play it's six o'clock in the morning," continued Susy. "That isn't school time," remonstrated Dotty. "O, yes, it is, in India. I'm the teacher. Give me a stick, please." "Here's my old riding-whip," said Flossy, producing it from the wood-box. Things were tucked away in very queer places at Mrs. Eastman's. Susy tied a string about her waist for a girdle, stuck the whip into it, and began to march the floor with great dignity. "Now school has begun. You must all come in, and bow 'way down to the ground, and say, 'O, respected teacher, grant us knowledge.' They are very polite in India.--All but Prudy, she may stay behind and play truant." The three pupils came forward, touched their foreheads to the floor, and repeated the sentence as directed, Johnny rendering it,-- "O, respectful Susy Parlin, don't you whip me!"--at the same time turning a somerset. "I forgot one thing," said the teacher, as her obedient pupils stood upright again, with flushed faces. "You ought to have brought me a present, every one of you, such as a fig of tobacco rolled up in a banana leaf, or--" "We didn't know you chewed," said Florence, laughing. "Now you take your seats. No, not there! On the floor! What do you suppose? You're in India, children. There are mats on the floor (we'll pretend)." The children seated themselves. "O, we ought to say a prayer to the Muse; but I can't remember what it is. No matter. Multiplication Table comes next. Mother says it's just the same thing in India that it is in America."