There were about twenty children at the party, when all the guests had arrived.  Mrs. Dunlap and Oliver shook hands with each, and the boys put their hats and coats in Oliver’s room while the little girls put theirs in his mother’s.  Sunny Boy knew nearly all the children except one, a boy who seemed older than any of the others and who, whenever he had a chance, teased the girls by pulling their hair-ribbons or putting out his foot to trip them as they went past him in the games.

“That’s Jerry Mullet,” whispered Oliver to Sunny Boy.  “He’s a cousin of Perry Phelps’.  I didn’t know he was visiting Perry when I sent the invitations, but Mrs. Phelps called up Mother and asked if Jerry couldn’t come to the party.  I don’t like him very much, do you?”

“Oh, I guess so,” said Sunny Boy, who wanted to be polite and who liked Perry Phelps so much he wanted to like his cousin, too.

Among the games they played were several in which prizes were given to those who won the game.  Ruth Baker won the spider web prize, much to her delight, for she was the youngest of the little girls, and it made her feel quite grown up to be asked to an eight-year-old party and to win a prize also.

“We are going to play the donkey game before supper,” announced Mrs. Dunlap, after they had played several other games.  “The donkey game is old, but Oliver thinks you will like it,” went on Mrs. Dunlap.  “I will blindfold you, children.  You first, Jerry.”

Jerry was blindfolded and turned around three times.  Then he started for the picture of the donkey pinned up on the wall.  A shout of laughter greeted him when he pinned the tail on one of the donkey’s long ears.

Nelson Baker was next, and he pinned the tail on a leg.  Helen Graham pinned it on his neck.  Dorothy Peters took a long time to decide where she would stab her pin and then, after all her trouble, only succeeded in pinning the tail on the donkey’s nose.  Child after child went up, and not one of them pinned the tail anywhere near the place where a donkey’s tail should grow.

“Now, Sunny Boy, you come and try it,” said Mrs. Dunlap, smiling at Sunny Boy.  “Never mind if these children do laugh.  They are ready to laugh at nothing now.  You pin the tail on the donkey, and then we’ll go out to the dining-room and see what Kate has to surprise us.”

CHAPTER XII

JERRY LOSES HIS TEMPER

Sunny Boy stood very still to have the handkerchief tied over his eyes.  He was glad it was his turn, and he meant to pin that donkey’s tail almost in the right place, if not the exact spot.

“There you are, Sunny Boy,” said Mrs. Dunlap gaily, turning him around and around gently, three times.  “Now you are ready to try your luck.”

Sunny Boy tried to remember where the donkey was pinned.  He walked forward slowly, taking queer little short steps.  When your eyes are blindfolded, you know, you feel every moment as though you were going to step down into a hole.  Suddenly Sunny Boy lifted his pin with the donkey’s tail on it and made a quick jab.  He was sure he had reached the picture of the donkey.