The Scout who had taken Sahwah’s entry that day under the tree came strolling over, curious to see what kind of a kite she had produced.

“Ho, ho!” he scoffed.  “What kind of a kite do you call that?  That’s nothing but a paper doll.  That’s just the kind of a kite you’d expect a girl to make.  Now when you’re making a kite, you want to make a kite, not a paper doll!  And what did you go and paint that one eye on there for and nothing else, and then enter her as Many Eyes?”

Sahwah forbore to reply, and walked away, shielding her poor darling with her body against the curious stares and comments of the other contestants.  Mr. Wing was sympathetic when he heard of the tragic fate of the original Many Eyes and did not laugh at her hopscotch successor, but the artist, who was with him, laughed uncontrollably, which hurt Sahwah’s feelings and increased the slight antagonism she already had toward him.  So she walked away from him, too, and took her place with the contestants, who were forming in a line in the field.  All around her she heard amused comments passed upon the shape of No. 6 entry; everybody called it the “paper doll.”  In height and breadth it conformed to the prescribed measurements laid down by the rules of the contest, but it did look so odd for a kite to have a head and arms and legs!  All the other entries were the regulation kite shape.  Victory Bird and American Eagle had pictures of eagles with outstretched wings pasted upon them.  The whistle blew and the kites were launched in air and immediately the sky was split with the shouts of the various rooters.

“VICTORY BIRD!  VICTORY BIRD!  VICTORY BIRD!”

“SAMMY BOY!  SAMMY BOY!  SAMMY BOY!”

“SKYSCRAPER!  SKYSCRAPER!  SKYSCRAPER!”

In the midst of the din came the feebler, but stanch cheer of the Winnebagos.  Nyoda noticed that Agony did not cheer for Many Eyes; she had slipped away from the Winnebagos and stood by herself a few paces off, trying to look like a disinterested spectator.

“She won’t cheer for Many Eyes because she’s ashamed of her and doesn’t want people to know she’s her entry!” was the painful thought that came into Nyoda’s mind.

The rest of the Winnebagos stood gamely together and shrieked for their entry at the tops of their voices.  Slim and the Captain stood by them loyally and made as much racket as they could.

The ripple of amusement that had caused Agony so much chagrin when the “paper doll” began her flight soon changed to astonished applause, for Many Eyes won in a walk!  Straight up she soared, “just like an angel,” as Sahwah described it afterwards, tugging so hard on her leash that the stick upon which the string was wound spun around in Sahwah’s hand like a bobbin and it was all she could do to hold on to it.  Once she got started she left all the others far behind.  As Slim said, she “made them look like a row of stationary wash tubs.”