"You made me trip!" exclaimed Vi. "You gave me the pepper before I was ready." "You said to give you 'three slow--pepper,' and I did," declared Rose. I suppose you girls who jump rope know what "three slow--pepper" means, but the boys probably will not, so I'll explain. The person who is turning the rope for the other to jump, turns it very slowly for three times. Then she turns it fast. Jumping fast is called jumping "pepper," and sometimes jumping slow is called "salt." And I have heard some little girls, when they were jumping rope, call for "mustard and vinegar." But that is very fast indeed--too fast for little girls, I should think. Rose and Vi never jumped faster than pepper. "Yes, I know I said 'three slow--pepper,'" admitted Vi. "But I didn't want you to give me such fast pepper." "Oh, well, try it again," said Rose, good-naturedly. "I won't go so fast the next time." So she began turning the rope again, and Vi started to jump. This time all went well, and Vi, when it came to the "pepper" part, did so well and kept it up so long that Rose at last cried, with a laugh: "Oh, my arm is tired! Let me rest, Vi!" "I will," said the little girl. "I'm tired, too. After I rest a minute I'll turn for you." They sat on the grass under the trees for a while, and then began taking turns jumping again. "Now let's try a new way," suggested Rose after a bit. "We'll see how high we can jump over the rope." So they began this game, and pretty soon some little girls from the house across the street came out to play with Rose and Vi. They were from a family that Aunt Jo knew, and had played with the little Bunkers before. The children had lots of fun, skipping rope, and seeing who could jump the highest. Rose was best at this, though Mabel Potter, one of the little girls from across the street, jumped nearly as high. "Now let's go and play with our dolls again," suggested Vi. "Can you come over to our Aunt Jo's house, and sit on her porch?" she asked Mabel, Florence and Sallie, the other little girls. They said they could, and they were just starting to get their dolls when along came a boy with a basket of groceries on his arm. He had got out of a delivery wagon down the street, and was bringing some things to Aunt Jo. The boy had often called with groceries before, and Rose and Vi knew him. His name was Henry Jones. "Hello, little girls!" called Henry, for he was older than any of them. "What you doin'?" "Seeing who can jump highest," answered Rose. "I can jump higher'n any of you!" boasted Henry. "Want to see me?" "Well, you ought to jump higher--you're bigger'n we are," said Mabel. "Well, I'll jump and keep on holding my basket," offered the grocery boy. "That'll make it harder for me. Go on! Hold the rope up real high and I'll jump over it." "Maybe you might spill the things in your basket," suggested Rose. "No, I won't. I'm a good jumper," said Henry. "Hold the rope up real high."