 Chapter one of Penrod and Sam. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Jonathan Burchard, Perth, Western Australia, April 2009. Penrod and Sam by Booth Tarkington. Chapter one, Penrod and Sam. During the daylight hours of several autumn Saturdays there have been severe outbreaks of cavalry in the Schofield neighborhood. The sabers were of wood, the steeds were imaginary, and both were employed in a game called Bonded Prisoner by its inventors, Masters Penrod Schofield and Samuel Williams. The pastime was not intricate. When two enemies met, they fenced spectacularly until the person of one or the other was touched by the opposing weapon. Then, when the ensuing claims of foul play had been disallowed and the subsequent argument settled, the combatant touch was considered to be a prisoner until such time as he might be touched by the hilt of a sword belonging to one of his own party, which affected his release and restored to him the full enjoyment of hostile activity. Pending such rescue, however, he was obliged to accompany the forces of his captor with or so their strategic necessities led them, which included many strange places. For the game was exciting, and at its highest pitch would sweep out of an alley into a stable, out of that stable and into a yard, out of that yard and into a house, and through that house with the sound and effect upon furniture of trampling herds. In fact, this very similarity must have been in the mind of the distressed colored woman in Mrs. Williams' kitchen, when she declared that she might just as well try to cook rats bang in the middle of the stockyards. All up and down the neighborhood the campaigns were waged, accompanied by the martial clashing of wood upon wood and by many clamorous arguments. You're a prisoner, Roddy Bitts! I am not! You are too! I touched you where I'd like to know! On the sleeve! You did not! I never felt it. I guess I'd have felt it, wouldn't I? What if you didn't? I touched you and you're bonded. I leave it to Sam Williams. Yeah, of course you would. He's on your side. I leave it to Herman. No, you won't. If you can't show any sense about it, we'll do it over, and I guess you'll see whether you feel it or not. There! Now I guess, aw, squash! Strangely enough, the undoubted champion proved to be the youngest and darkest of all the combatants, one Vermin, colored, brother to Herman, and subsequently under the size to which his nine years entitled him. Vermin was unfortunately tongue-tied, but he was valiant beyond all others, and in spite of every handicap, he became at once the chief support of his own party and the despair of the opposition. On the third Saturday, this opposition had been worn down by the successive captors of Maurice Levy and Georgie Bassett until it consisted of only Sam Williams and Penrod. Hence, it behooved these two to be wary, lest they be wiped out altogether, and Sam was dismayed indeed upon cautiously scouting around a corner of his own stable to find himself face-to-face with the valorous and skillful Vermin, who was acting as an outpost or picket of the enemy. Vermin immediately fell upon Sam horse and foot, and Sam would have fled but dared not, for fear he might be touched from the rear. Therefore, he defended himself as best he could, and there followed a lusty whacking in the course of which Vermin's hat, a relic and two large fell from his head, touching Sam's weapon and falling. There panted Sam, desisting immediately. That counts, you're bonded, Vermin. Aim me where? Vermin protested. Interpreting this as ain't neither, Sam invented a lot of suit the occasion. Yes you are, that's the rule, Vermin. I touched your hat with my sword, and your hat's just the same as you. Mop! Vermin insisted. Yes it is, said Sam, already warmly convinced by his own statement that he was in the right. Listen here, if I hit you on the shoe it would be the same as hitting you, wouldn't it? I guess it'd count if I hit you on the shoe, wouldn't it? Well, the hat's just the same as shoes. Honest, that's the rule, Vermin, and you're a prisoner. Now in the arguing part of the game, Vermin's impediment cooperated with a native aiming ability to render him far less effective than in the actual combat. He chuckled and seated the point. Ah, why? He said, and cheerfully followed his captor to a hidden place among some bushes in the front yard. Where Penrod lurked. Looky what I got, Sam said importantly, pushing his captive into this retreat. Now I guess you won't say I'm not so much use anymore. Squat down, Vermin, so they can't see you if they're hunting for us. That's one of the rules, honest. You got to squat when we tell you to. Vermin was agreeable. He squatted and then began to laugh uproariously. Stop that noise, Penrod commanded. You want to betray us? What you laughing at? And back in a minute. Vermin giggled. What's that mean, Sam asked. Penrod was more familiar with Vermin's utterance and he interpreted. He says they'll get him back in a minute. No they won't, I'd just like to see, yes they will too, Penrod said. They'll get him back for the main and simple reason, we can't stay here all day, can we? And they'd find us anyhow if we tried to. There's so many of them against just us two. They can run in and touch him as soon as they get up to us. And then he'll be after us again. And listen here, Sam interrupted. Why can't we put some real bonds on him? We could put bonds on his wrists and around his legs. We could put them all over him, easy as nothing. Then we could gag him. No we can't, said Penrod. We can't for the main and simple reason, we haven't got any rope or anything to make the bonds with, have we? I wish we had some of that stuff they give sick people. Then I bet they wouldn't get him back so soon. Sick people, Sam repeated, not comprehending. It makes him go to sleep, no matter what you do to him. Penrod explained, that's the main and simple reason they can't wake up. And you can cut off their old legs or their arms or anything you want to. Hoy! exclaimed Vermin in a serious tone. His laughter ceased instantly and he began to utter a protest sufficiently intelligible. You needn't worry, Penrod said gloomily. We haven't got any of that stuff so we can't do it. Well, we got to do something, Sam said. His comrade agreed and there was a thoughtful silence, but presently Penrod's countenance brightened. I know, he exclaimed. I know just what we'll do with him. Why, I thought of it just as easy. I can almost always think of things like that. For the main and simple reason, well, I thought of it just as soon. Well, what is it, Sam demanded crossly. Penrod's reiteration of his newfound phrase, for the main and simple reason, had been growing more and more irksome to his friend all day, though Sam was not definitely aware that the phrase was the cause of his annoyance. What are we going to do with him, you know so much? Penrod rose and peered over the tops of the bushes, shading his eyes with his hand, a gesture that was unnecessary but had a good appearance. He looked all round him in this matter, finally vouchsafing a report to the impatient Sam. His enemies in sight. Just for the main and simple reason, I expect they're all in the alley and in Georgie Bassett's backyard. I bet they're not, Sam said scornfully. His irritation much increased. How do you know so much about it? Just for the main and simple reason, Penrod replied with dignified finality. And at that, Sam felt a powerful impulse to do violence upon the person of his comrade in arms. The emotion that prompted this impulse was so primitive and straightforward almost resulted in action. But Sam had a vague sense that he must control it as long as he could. Bugs, he said. Penrod was sensitive and this cold word hurt him. However, he was under the domination of his strategic idea, and he subordinated private grievance to the common wheel. Get up, he commanded. You get up too, vermin. You got to. It's the rule. Now here, I'll show you exactly what we're going to do. Stoop over, and both of you do just exactly like I do. You watch me because this business has got to be done right. Sam muttered something. He was becoming more insurgent every moment, but he obeyed. Likewise, vermin rose to his feet, ducked his head between his shoulders, and trotted out to the sidewalk at Sam's heels, both following Penrod and assuming a stooping position in imitation of him. Vermin was delighted with this phase of the game, and also he was profoundly amused by Penrod's pomposity. Something dim and deep within him perceived it to be cause for such merriment that he had a do to master himself and was forced to bottle and cork his laughter with both hands. They proved insufficient. Sputterings burst forth between his fingers. You stop that, Penrod said, looking back darkly upon the prisoner. Vermin endeavored to oblige, though giggles continued to leak from him at intervals, and the three boys stole along the fence in single file, proceeding in this fashion until they reached Penrod's own front gate. Here, the leader ascertained by a reconnaissance as far as the corner that the hostile forces were still looking for them in another direction. He returned in a stealthy but important manner to his disgruntled follower, and the hilarious captive. Well, said Sam impatiently, I guess I'm not going to stand around here all day, I guess. You got anything you want to do? Once you go on and do it, Penrod's brow was already contorted to present the appearance of detached and lofty concentration, a failure since it did not deceive the audience. He raised a hushing hand. Shhh, he murmured. I got to think! Bugs, the impolite Mr. Williams said again. Vermin bent double, squealing and sputtering. Indeed, he was ultimately forced to sit upon the ground, so exhausting was the mirth to which he now gave way. Penrod's composure was somewhat affected, and he showed annoyance. Oh, I guess you won't laugh quite so much now, old Mr. Vermin, he said severely. You get up from there and do like I tell you. Well, why don't you tell him why he won't laugh so much then? Sam demanded, as Vermin rose. Why don't you do something and quit talking so much about it? Penrod haughtily led the way into the yard. You follow me, he said, and I guess you'll learn a little sense. Then, abandoning his haught here for an error of mystery equally irritating to Sam, he stole up the steps of the porch, for a moment's manipulation of the knob of the big front door contrived to operate the fastenings and pushed the door open. Come on, he whispered beckoning, and the three boys mounted the stairs to the floor above in silence, save for a belated giggle on the part of Vermin, which was restrained upon a terrible gesture from Penrod. Vermin buried his mouth as deeply as possible in a ragged sleeve and confined his demonstration to a heaving of the stomach and diaphragm. Penrod led the way into the dainty room of his 19-year-old sister, Margaret, and closed the door. There, he said, in a low and husky voice, I expect you'll see what I'm going to do now. Well, what? the skeptical Sam asked. If we stay here very long, your mother will come and send us downstairs. What's the good of—wait, can't you? Penrod wailed in a whisper. My goodness! And going to an inner door, he threw it open, disclosing a closed closet hung with pretty garments of many kinds, while upon its floor were two rows of shoes and slippers of great variety and charm. A significant thing is to be remarked concerning the door of this somewhat intimate treasury. There was no knob or latch upon the inner side, so that, when the door was closed, it could be opened only from the outside. There, said Penrod, you get in there, Vermin, and I'll bet they won't get to touch you back out of being our prisoner very soon now. Oh, I guess not! Psh, said Sam. Is that all you were going to do? Why, your mother will come and make him get out the fur— no, she won't. She and Margaret have gone to my aunts in the country and aren't going to be back till dark. And even if you made a lot of noise, it's kind of hard to hear anything from in there anyway when the door is shut. Besides, he's got to keep quiet. That's the rule, Vermin. You're a prisoner, and it's the rule you can't holler or nothing. You understand that, Vermin? I'll I, said Vermin. Then go on in there, hurry! The obedient Vermin marched into the closet and sat down among the shoes and slippers, where he presented an interesting, effective contrast. He was still subject to hilarity, though endeavoring to suppress it by means of a patent leather slipper when Penrod closed the door. There, said Penrod, leading the way from the room, I guess now you see. Sam said nothing, went to the open air and reached their retreat in the Williams' yard again, without his having acknowledged Penrod's service to their mutual cause. I thought of it just as easy, Penrod remarked, probably prompted by this odious bit of complacency by Sam's withholding the praise that might naturally have been expected. And he was moved to add, I guess that it had been a pretty long while if we'd had to wait for you to think of something as good as that, Sam. Why would it, Sam asked? Oh, Penrod responded eerily, just for the main and simple reason. Sam could bear it no longer. Oh, hush up, he shouted. Penrod was stunned. Do you mean me, he demanded? Yes, I do, the goaded Sam replied. Did you tell me to hush up? Yes, I did. I guess you don't know who you're talking to, Penrod said ominously. I guess I'd just better show you who you're talking to like that. Perhaps you need a little something for the main and simple Sam uttered an uncontrollable howl and sprang upon Penrod, catching him around the waist. Simultaneously with this impact, the wooden sword spun through the air and were presently trodden underfoot as the two boys wrestled to and fro. Penrod was not altogether surprised by the onset of his friend. He had been aware of Sam's increasing irritation, though neither boy could have clearly stated its cause, but his irritation produced a corresponding emotion in the bosom of the irritator. Mentally, Penrod was quite ready for the conflict, nay, he welcomed it, though for the first few moments Sam had the physical advantage. However, it is proper that a neat distinction be drawn here. This was a conflict, but neither technically nor in the intention of the contestants was it a fight. Penrod and Sam were both in a state of high exasperation, and there was a great bitterness, and no tears. They strained, they wrenched, they twisted, and they panted and they muttered, oh no you won't, oh I guess I do, oh you will will you, you'll see what you get in about a minute, I guess you'll learn more since this time. Streaks and blotches began to appear upon the two faces, where color had been heightened by the ardent application of a cloth sleeve or shoulder, while ankles and insteps were scraped and toes were trampled. Turf and shrubbery suffered also as the struggle went on, and so finally the wrestlers pitched headlong into a young lilac bush, and came to earth together among its crushed and sprawling branches. Uch and woof were the two exclamations which marked this episode, and then, with no further comment, the struggle was energetically continued upon a horizontal plane. Now Penrod was on top, now Sam, they rolled, they squirmed, and they suffered, and this contest endured. On and on, and it was impossible to imagine it's coming to a definite termination. It went on so long that to both the participants it seemed to be a permanent thing, a condition that had always existed, and that must always exist perpetually, and thus they were discovered by a foray of the hostile party, headed by Roddy Bitts and Herman, older brother to vermin, and followed by the bonded prisoners Maurice Levy and Georgie Bassett. These and others caught sight of the writhing figures and charged down upon them with loud cries of triumph. Prisoner, prisoner, bonded prisoner, shrieked Roddy Bitts and touched Penrod and Sam each in turn with his saber. Then, seeing that they paid no attention and that they were at his mercy, he recalled the fact that several times during earlier stages of the game both of them had been unnecessarily vigorous in touching his own rather plump person. Therefore, the opportunity being excellent, he raised his weapon again and, repeating the words, bonded prisoner, as ample explanation of his deed, brought into play the full strength of his good right arm. He used the flat of his saber. Whack! Whack! Roddy was perfectly impartial. It was a cold-blooded performance and even more effective than he anticipated. For one thing, it ended the civil war instantly. Sam and Penrod leaped to their feet shrieking in bloodthirsty while Maurice Levy capered with joy Herman was so overcome that he rolled upon the ground and Georgie Bassett remarked virtuously, it serves them right for fighting. But Roddy Bitts foresaw that something not within the rules of the game was about to happen. Here, you keep away from me, he quavered, retreating, I was just taking you prisoners, I guess I had a right to touch you, didn't I? Alas, neither Sam nor Penrod was able to see the matter in that light. They believed their own weapons and they advanced upon Roddy with a purposefulness that seemed horrible to him. Here, you keep away from me, he said in great alarm, I'm going home. He did go home, but only subsequently. What took place before his departure had the singular solidity and completeness of systematic violence. Also, it bore the moral beauty of all actions that lead to peace and friendship. For when it was over and the final vocalizations of Roderick Jr. were growing faint with increasing distance, Sam and Penrod had forgotten their differences and felt well disposed towards each other once more. All their animosity was exhausted and they were in a glow of good feeling, though probably they were not conscious of any direct gratitude to Roddy, whose thoughtful opportunism was really the cause of this happy result. End of chapter 1 Chapter 2 of Penrod and Sam This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recorded by Jonathan Berchard April 2009 Penrod and Sam by Booth Tarkington Chapter 2 The Bonded Prisoner After such rigorous events, everyone comprehended that the game of Bonded Prisoner was over and there was no suggestion that it should or might be resumed. The fashion of its conclusion had been so consummately enjoyed by all parties with the natural exception of Roddy Bitts that the school would have been tame. Hence, the various minds of the company turned to other matters and became restless. Georgie Bassett withdrew first, remembering that if he expected to be as wonderful as usual tomorrow in Sunday school, it was time to prepare himself, though this was not included in the statement he made alleging the cause of his departure. Being detained bodily and pressed for explanation, he desperately said that he had to go home to tease the cook, which had the rake-helly air to ensure his release, but was not considered plausible. However, he was finally allowed to go and as first hints of evening were already cooling and darkening the air, the party broke up, its members setting forth, whistling toward their several homes, though Penrod lingered with Sam. Herman was the last to go from them. Well, I gotta get Stovewood for supper, he said, rising and stretching himself. I gotta get a little soapbox wagon and go on over where that new house builded on Second Street, pick up few shingles and blocks laying round. And he went through the yard toward the alley and at the alley gate, remembering something, he paused and called to them. The lot was a deep one, and they were too far away to catch his meaning. Sam shouted, Can't hear you! And Herman replied, but still unintelligibly, then upon Sam's repetition of Can't hear you! Herman waved his arm in farewell, implying that the matter was of little significance and vanished. But if they had understood him, Penrod and Sam might have considered his inquiry of instant importance, for Herman's last shout was to ask whether either of them had noticed where vermin went! Vermin and vermin's whereabouts were at this hour of no more concern to Sam and Penrod than was the other side of the moon. That unfortunate bonded prisoner had been long since utterly effaced from their consciousness, and the dark secret of their Bastille troubled them not, for the main and simple reason that they had forgotten it. They drifted indoors and found Sam's mother's white cat drowsing on a desk in the library, the which coincidence obviously inspired the experiment of ascertaining how successfully ink could be used and making a clean white cat look like a coach dog. There was neither malice nor mischief in their idea, simply a problem presented itself to the logical and artistic questionings beginning to stir within them. They did not mean to do the cat the slightest injury or to cause her any pain. They were above teasing cats, and they merely detained this one and made her feel a little wet at considerable cost to themselves from both the ink and the cat. However, at the conclusion of their efforts it was thought safer to drop the cat out of the window before anybody came, and after some hasty work with blotters, the cat was moved to cover certain sections of the rug, and the two boys repaired to the bathroom for hot water and soap. They knew they had done nothing wrong, but they felt easier when the only traces remaining upon them were the less prominent ones upon their garments. These precautions taken, it was time for them to make their appearance at Penrod's house for dinner, for it had been arranged upon petition earlier in the day that Sam should be his friend's guest for the evening meal. Gleaned to the elbows and with breath, they marched, whistling, though not producing a distinctly musical effect since neither had any particular air in mind, and they found nothing wrong with the world. They had not a care. Arrived at their adjacent destination, they found Miss Margaret Schofield just entering the front door. Her eep boys, she said, Mama came home long before I did and I'm sure dinner is waiting. Run on out to the dining room and tell them I'll be right down. And, as they waited, she mounted the stairs, humming a little tune and unfastening the clasp of the long light blue military cape she wore. She went to her own quiet room, lit the gas, removed her hat, and placed it in the cape upon the bed, after which she gave her hair a push, subsequent to her scrutiny of a mirror. Then, turning out the light, she went as far as the door. Being an orderly girl, she returned to the bed and took the cape and the hat to her clothes closet. She opened the door and, in the dark, hung her cape upon a hook and placed her hat upon the shelf. Then she closed the door again, having noted nothing unusual, though she had an impression that the place needed airing. She descended to the dinner table. The other members of the family were already occupied with the meal, and the visitor was replying politely in his non-masticatory intervals to inquiries concerning the health of his relatives. So sweet and assured was the condition of Sam and Penrod that Margaret's arrival from her room meant nothing to them. Their memories were not stirred, and they continued eating, their expressions brightly placid. But from out of doors there came the sound of a calling and questing voice at first in the distance, then growing louder, coming nearer. Overman! Overman! It was the voice of Herman. And then two boys stacked stricken at that cheerful table and ceased to eat. Recollection awoke with a bang. Oh my! Sam gasped. Oh, what's the matter? Mr. Scofield said. Swallow something the wrong way, Sam. Yes, sir. And now the voice was near the windows of the dining room. Penrod, very pale, pushed back his chair and jumped up. Oh, what's the matter with you? His father demanded. Sit down. It's Herman. That colored boy lives in the alley, Penrod said hoarsely. I expect. I think, well, what's the matter? I think his little brothers maybe got lost, and Sam and I better go help look. You'll do nothing of the kind, Mr. Scofield said sharply. Sit down and eat your dinner. In a palsy, the miserable boy resumed his seat. He and Sam exchanged a single dumb glance. Then the eyes of both swung fearfully to Margaret. Her appearance was one of sprightly content, and from a certain point of view, nothing could have been more alarming. If she had opened her closet door without discovering Vermin, that must have been because Vermin was dead, and Margaret had failed to notice the body. Such were the thoughts of Penrod and Sam. But she might not have opened the closet door. And whether she had or not, alive or dead, for if he had escaped, he would have gone home, and their ears would not be ringing with that sinister and melancholy cry that now came from the distance. Oooooof! Vermin, in his seclusion, did not hear that appeal from his brother. There were too many walls between them, but he was becoming impatient for release, though all in all he had not found the confinement in Tolerbro or even very irksome. The director was philosophic, his imagination calm. No bugaboos came to trouble him. When the boys closed the door upon him, he made himself comfortable upon the floor, and for a time thoughtfully chewed a patent leather slipper that had come under his hand. He found the patent leather not unpleasant to his palate, though he swallowed only a portion of what he detached, not being hungry at the time. The sole fabric of Vermin was of a fortunate weave. He was not a seeker when it happened to him that he was at rest in a shady corner. He did not even think about a place in the sun. Vermin took life as it came. Naturally, he fell asleep, and toward the conclusion of his slumbers, he had this singular adventure. A lady set her foot down within less than half an inch of his nose, and neither of them knew it. Vermin slept on without being wakened by either the closing or the opening of the door. What did rouse him was something ample and soft falling upon him, Margaret's cape, which slid from the hook after she had gone. Enveloped in its folds, Vermin sat up, corkscrewing his knuckles into the corners of his eyes. Slowly, he became aware of two important vacuums, one in time, and one in his stomach. Ours had vanished strangely into nowhere. The game of bonded prisoner was something cloudy and remote of the long, long ago, and although Vermin knew where he was, he had partially forgotten how he came there. He perceived, however, that something had gone wrong for he was certain that he ought not to be where he found himself. What, folkshouse? The fact that Vermin could not have pronounced these words rendered them no less clear in his mind. They began to stir his apprehension, and nothing becomes more rapidly tumultuous than apprehension once it is stirred. That he might possibly obtain release by making a noise was too daring a thought, and not even conceived, much less entertained by the little and humble Vermin. For with the bill-wildering gap of his slumber between him and previous events, he did not place the responsibility for his being in white folkshouse upon the white folks who had put him there. His state of mind was that of the stable puppy who knows he must not be found in the parlor. Not thrice in his life had Vermin been within the doors of white folkshouse, and above all things, he felt that it was in some undefined way vital to him to get out of white folkshouse unobserved and unknown. It was in his very blood to be sure of that. Further than this point, the processes of Vermin's mind become mysterious to the observer. It appears, however, that he had a definite, though somewhat primitive, conception of the usefulness of disguise, and he must have begun his preparations before he heard footsteps in the room outside his closed door. These footsteps were Margaret's. Just as Mr. Schofield's coffee was brought, and just after Penrod had been baffled in another attempt to leave the table, Margaret Rosen patted her father impertently upon the head. You can't bully me that way, she said. I got home too late to dress, and I'm going to a dance. Excuse. She began her dancing on the spot, pure redding herself swiftly out of the room, and it was immediately heard running up the stairs. Penrod, Mr. Schofield shouted, Sit down. How many times am I going to tell you? What is the matter with you tonight? I got to go, Penrod gasped. I got to tell Margaret something. What have you got to tell her? It's... it's something I forgot to tell her. Well, it will keep till she comes downstairs, Mr. Schofield said grimly. You sit down till this meal is finished. Penrod was becoming frantic. I got to tell her. It's something Sam's mother told me to tell her, he babbled. Didn't she, Sam? You heard her tell me to tell her. Didn't you, Sam? Sam offered prompt corroboration. Yes, sir, she did. She said for us both to tell her. I better go too. I gasped because she said... He was interrupted. Startlingly upon their ears rang shriek on shriek. Mrs. Schofield, recognizing Margaret's voice, likewise shrieked, and Mr. Schofield uttered various sounds. But Penrod and Sam were incapable of doing anything vocally. All rushed from the table. Margaret continued to shriek, and is not to be denied that there was some cause for her agitation. When she opened the closet door, her light blue military cape, instead of hanging on the hook where she had left it, came out into the room in a manner that she after were described as a kind of horrible creep but faster than a creep. Nothing was to be seen except the creeping cape, she said, but of it. It was too large to be a cat, and too small to be a boy. It was too large to be Duke, Penrod's little old dog, and besides, Duke wouldn't act like that. It crept rapidly out into the upper hall, and then as she recovered the use of her voice and began to scream, the animated cape abandoned its creeping for a quicker gate. A weird, heaving flop, she defined it. The thing then decided upon a third style of locomotion evidently, and in the upper hall, a few steps in advance of Mr. and Mrs. Schofield, it was rolling grandly down the stairs. Mr. Schofield had only a hurried glimpse of it as it reached the bottom, close by the front door. Grab that thing, he shouted, dashing forward. Stop it, hit it! It was at this moment that Sam Williams displayed the presence of mine that was his most eminent characteristic. Sam's wonderful instinct for the right action almost never failed him. Leaping to the door, at the very instant when the rolling cape touched it, Sam flung the door open and the cape rolled on. With incredible rapidity and intelligence it rolled indeed out into the night. Penrod jumped after it, and the next second reappeared in the doorway holding the cape. He shook out its folds, breathing hard, but acquiring confidence. In fact, he was able to look up in his father's face and say with fear, do you know what I think? Well, it couldn't have acted that way itself. I think there must have been something kind of inside of it. Mr. Schofield shook his head slowly in marveling admiration. Brilliant, oh brilliant, he murmured. While Mrs. Schofield ran to support the enfeebled form of Margaret at the top of the stairs. In the library, after Margaret's departure to her dance, Mr. and Mrs. Schofield were still accompanying his homeward bound guest as far as the front gate. No, you're wrong, Mrs. Schofield said, upholding a theory earlier developed by Margaret that the animated behavior of the cape could be satisfactorily explained on no other ground than the supernatural. You see, the boys saying they couldn't remember what Mrs. Williams wanted them to tell Margaret and that possibly she hadn't told them anything to tell her because most likely they'd misunderstood what Mrs. Schofield wanted to tell them. They were mixed up and peculiar, but they sound that way about half the time anyhow. No, it couldn't have possibly had a thing to do with it. They were right there at the table with us all the time, and they came straight to the table the minute they entered the house. Before that, they'd been over at Sam's all afternoon, so it couldn't have been the boys. Mrs. Schofield paused to see if she was a medium. I mean, if she would let herself. So it wasn't anything the boys did. Mr. Schofield grunted. I'll admit this much, he said. I'll admit it wasn't anything we'll ever get out of him. And the remarks of Sam and Penrod, taking leave of each other, one on each side of the gate, appeared to corroborate Mr. Schofield's opinion. Well, good night, Penrod, Sam said. It was a pretty good Saturday, fine, said Penrod casually. Good night, Sam. End of Chapter 2 Chapter 3 of Penrod and Sam This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Jonathan Burchard April 2009 Penrod and Sam by Booth Tarkington Chapter 3 The Militarist Penrod Schofield, having been kept in for the unjust period after school, emerged to a deserted street. That is, the street was deserted so far as Penrod was concerned. Here and there, people were to be seen upon the sidewalks, but they were adults, and they and the shade trees had about the same quality of significance in Penrod's consciousness. Usually, he saw grown people in the mass, which is to say, they were virtually invisible to him. Though exceptions must be taken in favor of policemen, firemen, street car men, and all other men in any sort of uniform or regalia, but this afternoon none of these met the roving eye, and Penrod set out upon his homeward way wholly dependent upon his own resources. To one of Penrod's inner texture, a mere unadorned walk from one point to another was intolerable, and he had not gone a block without achieving some slight remedy for the tameness of life. An electric light pull at the corner, invested with powers of observation, might have been surprised to find itself suddenly enacting a role of dubious honor in improvised melodrama. Penrod, approaching, gave the pole a look of sharp suspicion, then one of conviction, slapped it lightly and contemptuously with his open hand, passed on a few paces, then turned abruptly, and pointing his right forefinger uttered the symbolic word, bing! The plot was somewhat indefinite, yet nothing is more certain than that the electric light pull had first attempted something against him, then growing bitter when slapped and stealing after him to take him treacherously in the back, had got itself shot through and through by one too old in such warfare to be caught off his guard. Leaving the body to lie where it was, he placed the smoking pistol in a holster at his saddle-bow. He had decided that he was mounted and proceeded up the street. At intervals he indulged himself in other encounters, reigning in at first suspicion of ambush with a muttered, whoa Charlie or whoa Mike or even whoa Washington for preoccupation with the enemy outweighed attention to the details of theatrical consistency though the steed's varying names were at least harmoniously masculine since a boy in these creative moments never rides a mare. And having brought Charlie or Mike or Washington to a standstill, Penrod would draw the shore weapon from its holster and bing! bing! bing! let them have it. It is not to be understood that this was a noisy performance or even an obvious one. It attracted no attention from any pedestrian and it was to be perceived only that a boy was proceeding up the street at a somewhat irregular gate. Three or four years earlier when Penrod was seven or eight he would have shouted bing! at the top of his voice he would have galloped openly all the world might have seen that he bestowed a charger but a change had come upon him with advancing years. Although the grown people in sight were indeed to him as walking trees his dramas were accomplished principally by suggestion and symbol. His woes and bings were delivered in a husky whisper and the equestrianism was established by action mostly of the mind the accompanying artistry of the feet being unintelligible to the passerby and yet though he concealed from observation the stirring little scenes he thus enacted a love of realism was increasing within him early childhood is not fastidious about the accessories of its drama a cane is vividly a gun which may instantly as vividly become a horse but at Penrod's time of life the last sword is no longer satisfactory indeed he now had a vague sense that weapons of wood were unworthy to the point of being contemptible and ridiculous and he employed them only when he was alone and unseen. For months a yearning had grown more and more poignant in his vitals and this yearning was symbolized by one of his most profound secrets in the inner pocket of his jacket he carried a bit of wood whittled into the distant likeness of a pistol but not even Sam Williams had seen it the wooden pistol never knew the light of day save when Penrod was in solitude and yet it never left his side except at night when it was placed under his pillow still it did not satisfy it was but the token of his yearning and his dream with all his might and main Penrod long for one thing beyond all others he wanted a real pistol that was natural that was natural pictures of real pistols being used to magnificently romantic effect were upon almost all the billboards in town the year round and as for the movie shows they could not have lived an hour unpistalled in the drug store where Penrod bought his candy and soda when he was in funds he would linger to turn the pages of periodicals whose illustrations were fascinatingly pistolic some of the magazines upon the very library table at home were sprinkled with pictures of people usually in evening clothes pointing pistols at other people nay the library board of the town had admitted a selected list of 15 books for boys and Penrod had read 14 of them with pleasure but as the 15th contained no weapons in the earlier chapters and held forth little prospect of any shooting at all he abandoned in half way and read the most sanguinary of the other 14 over again so the daily food of his imagination being gun what wonder that he thirsted for the real he passed from the sidewalk into his own yard with a subdued being inflicted upon the stolid person of a gate post and entering the house through the kitchen ceased to being for a time however driven back from the four part of the house by a dismal sound of collars he returned to the kitchen and sat down Della he said to the cook do you know what I do if you was a crook and I had my automatic with me Della was industrious and preoccupied if I was a cook she repeated ignorantly and with no cordiality well I am a cook I'm a cookin right now either go on in the house where you belong or get out in the yard Penrod chose the latter and he took himself slowly to the back fence where he was greeted in a boisterous manner by his wistful little old dog Duke returning from some affair of his own in the alley get down said Penrod coldly and bestowed a spiritless being upon him at this moment a shout was heard from the alley yay Penrod and the sandy head of comrade Sam Williams appeared above the fence come on over said Penrod as Sam obediently climbed the fence the little old dog Duke moved slowly away but presently glancing back over his shoulder and seeing the two boys standing together he broke into a trot and disappeared round a corner of the house he was a dog of long and enlightening experience and he made it clear that the conjunction of Penrod and Sam portended events which from his point of view might be unfortunate Duke had a forgiving disposition but he also possessed a melancholy wisdom in the company of either Penrod or Sam alone affection often caused him to linger maybe it was a little pessimism but when he saw them together he invariably withdrew in his unobtrusive manner as haste would allow what you doing Sam asked nothing what you I'll show you if you come over to our house said Sam who was wearing an important and secretive expression what for Penrod showed little interest well I said I'd show you if you came on over didn't I haven't got anything I haven't got said Penrod indifferently I know everything that's in your yard in your stable and there isn't I didn't say it was in the yard or in the stable did I well there ain't anything in your house returned Penrod frankly that I'd walk two feet to look at not a thing oh no Sam assumed mockery oh no you wouldn't you know what it is don't you yes you do Penrod's curiosity stirred somewhat well all right he said I got nothing to do I just as soon go what is it you wait and see said Sam as they climb the fence I bet your eyes will open pretty far in about a minute or so I bet they don't it takes a good deal to get me excited unless it's something mighty you'll see Sam promised he opened an alley gate and stepped into his own yard in a manner signaling caution though the exploit thus far certainly required none and Penrod began to be impressed and hopeful they entered the house silently encountering no one and Sam led the way upstairs tiptoeing implying unusual and increasing peril turning in the upper hall they went into Sam's father's bedroom and Sam closed the door with a caution so genuine that already Penrod's eyes began to fulfill his host's prediction adventures in another boy's house are trying to the nerves and another boy's father's bedroom when invaded has a violated sanctity that is almost appalling Penrod felt that something was about to happen something much more important than he anticipated Sam tiptoed across the room to a chest of drawers and kneeling carefully pulled out the lowest drawer until the surface of its contents Mr. Williams winter underwear lay exposed then he fumbled beneath the garments and drew forth a large object displaying it triumphantly to the satisfactorily dumbfounded Penrod it was a blue steel Colt's revolver of the heaviest pattern made in the 70s Mr. Williams had inherited it from Sam's grandfather a small man a deacon and disceptic and it was larger and more horrible than any revolver either of the boys had ever seen in any picture moving or stationary moreover greenish bullets of great size were to be seen in the chambers of the cylinder suggesting massacre rather than mere murder this revolver was real and it was loaded End of Chapter 3 Chapter 4 of Penrod and Sam this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recorded by Jonathan Burchard April 2009 Penrod and Sam by Booth Tarkington Chapter 4 Bingism Both boys live breathlessly through a violent moment leave me have it you wait a minute Sam protested in a whisper I want to show you how I do no you let me show you how I do Penrod insisted and they scuffled for possession look out Sam whispered warningly it might go off then you better leave me have it and Penrod victorious and flush stepped back his grasp here he said this is the way I do you be a crook and suppose you got a dagger and I don't want any dagger Sam protested advancing I want that revolver it's my father's revolver ain't it well wait a minute can't you I got a right to show you the way I do first haven't I Penrod began an improvisation on the spot say I'm coming along after dark like this look Sam say you try to make a jump at me I won't Sam decline this role impatiently I guess it ain't your father's revolver is it well it may be your father's but it ain't yours Penrod argued becoming logical it ain't either of us revolver so I got as much right you haven't either it's my watch can't you just a minute Penrod urged vehemently I'm not going to keep it am I you can have it when I get through can't you I do I'm coming along after dark just walking along this way look like this look Sam Penrod suiting the action to the word walked to the other end of the room swinging the revolver at his side with affected carelessness I'm just walking along like this and the first I don't see you continue the actor then I kind of get a notion something wrong is liable to happen so I he interrupted himself abruptly no that isn't it you wouldn't notice that I had my good old revolver with me you wouldn't think I had one because it'd be under my coat like this and you wouldn't see it Penrod stuck the muzzle of the pistol into the waistband of his knickerbockers at the left side and buttoning his jacket sustain the weapon in concealment by pressure of his elbow so you think I haven't got any you think I'm just a man coming along and so you Sam advanced well you've had your turn he said now it's mine I'm going to show you how I watch me can't you Penrod wailed I haven't showed you how I do have I my goodness can't you watch me a minute I have been you said yourself it'd be my turn soon as you my goodness let me have a chance can't you Penrod retreated to the wall turning his right side towards Sam and keeping the revolver still protected under his coat I got to have my turn first haven't I well yours is over long ago it isn't either I anyway Sam decidedly clutching him by the right shoulder and endeavoring to reach his left side anyway I'm going to have it now you said I can have my turn out Penrod carried away by indignation raised his voice I did not Sam likewise lost a caution asserted his denial loudly you did too you said I never said anything you said quit that boys Mrs. Williams Sam's mother opened the door of the room and stood upon the threshold the scuffling of Sam and Penrod ceased instantly and they stood hushed and stricken while fear fell upon them boys you weren't quarreling were you ma'am said Sam were you quarreling with Penrod no ma'am answered Sam in a small voice it sounded like it what's the matter both boys returned her curious glance with meekness they were summoning their faculties which were needed indeed these are the crises which prepare a boy for the business difficulties of his later life Penrod with the huge weapon beneath his jacket insecurely supported by an elbow and by a waistband which he instantly began to distrust experienced a stressful sensation similar to those of the owner of too heavily insured property carrying a gasoline can under his overcoat and detained for conversation by a policeman and if in the coming years it was to be Penrod's lot to find himself in that precise situation no doubt he would be the better prepared for it on account of this present afternoon's experience under the scalding eye of Mrs. Williams it should be added that Mrs. Williams eye was awful to the imagination only it was a gentle eye and but mildly curious having no remote suspicion of the dreadful truth for Sam had backed upon the chest of drawers and closed the damnatory open one with the calves of his legs Sam not bearing the fatal evidence upon his person is in a better state than Penrod though when boys fall into the stillness now assumed by these two it should be understood that they are suffering Penrod in fact was the prey to apprehension so keen that the actual pit of his stomach was cold being the actual custodian of the crime he understood that his case was several degrees more serious than that of Sam who in the event of detection would be convicted as only an accessory it was a lesson and Penrod already granted his selfishness in not allowing Sam to show how he did first you sure you weren't quarreling Sam said Mrs. Williams no ma'am we were just talking still she seemed dimly uneasy and her eyes swung to Penrod what were you and Sam talking about Penrod ma'am what were you talking about Penrod gulped invisibly well he murmured it wasn't much different things what things oh just something different things I'm glad you weren't quarreling said Mrs. Williams reassured by this reply which though somewhat baffling was thoroughly familiar to her ear now if you'll come downstairs I'll give you each one cookie and no more so your appetites won't be spoiled for your dinners she stood evidently expecting them to proceed her to linger might renew vague suspicion causing it to become more definite and boys preserve themselves from moment to moment not often attempting to secure the future consequently the apprehensive Sam and the unfortunate Penrod with the monstrous implement bulking against his ribs walked out of the room and down the stairs their countenance is indicating an interior condition of solemnity and a curious shade of behavior might have here interested a criminologist Penrod endeavored to keep as close to Sam as possible like a lonely person seeking company while on the other hand Sam kept moving away from Penrod seeming to desire an appearance of aloofness going to the library boys said Mrs. Williams as the three reached the foot of the stairs I'll bring you your cookies Papa's in there under her eye the two entered the library to find Mr. Williams reading his evening paper he looked up pleasantly but it seemed to Penrod that he had an ominous and penetrating expression what have you been up to you boys inquired this enemy nothing said Sam different things what like oh just different things Mr. Williams nodded then his glance rested casually upon Penrod what's the matter with your arm Penrod Penrod became paler and Sam withdrew from him almost conspicuously sir I said what's the matter with your arm which one Penrod quavered your left you seem to be holding it at an unnatural position have you heard it Penrod swallowed yes sir a boy bit me I mean a dog a dog bit me Mr. Williams murmured sympathetically that's too bad where did he bite you on the right on the elbow good gracious perhaps you ought to have it cauterized sir did you have a doctor look at it no sir my mother put some stuff from the drugstore on it oh I see probably it's alright then yes sir Penrod drew breath more freely and accepted the warm cookie Mrs. Williams brought him he ate it without relish you can have only one piece she said it's too near dinner time you needn't beg for any more because you can't have them they were good about that they were in no frame of digestion for cookies was it your dog that bit you Mr. Williams inquired sir no sir it wasn't Duke Penrod Mrs. Williams exclaimed when did it happen I don't remember just when he answered feebly I guess it was day before yesterday gracious how did it he he just came up and bit me why that's terrible it might be dangerous for other children said Mrs. Williams with a solicitous glance at Sam don't you know whom he belongs to no it was just a dog you poor boy your mother must have been dreadfully frightened when you came home and she saw she was interrupted by the entrance of a middle-aged colored woman Ms. Williams she began and then as she caught sight of Penrod she addressed him directly you my telephone if you hear send you home right away because they waiting dinner on you run along then said Mrs. Williams patting the visitor lightly upon his shoulder and she accompanied him to the front door tell your mother I'm so sorry about your getting bitten and you must take good care of it Penrod yes him Penrod lingered helplessly outside the doorway looking at Sam who stood partially obscured in the hall behind Mrs. Williams Penrod's eyes with veiled anguish conveyed a pleading for help as well as a horror of the situation in which he found himself Sam however pale and determined seemed to have assumed a stony attitude of detachment as if it were well understood between them that his own comparative innocence was established and that whatever catastrophe ensued Penrod had brought it on and must bear the brunt of it alone well you better run along since they're waiting for you at home said Mrs. Williams closing the door good night Penrod ten minutes later Penrod took his place at his own dinner table somewhat breathless but with an expression of perfect composure can't you ever come home without being telephone for demanded his father yes sir and Penrod added reproachfully placing the blame upon members of Mr. Schofield's own class Sam's mother and father kept me or I'd been home long ago they would keep on talking and I guess I had to be polite didn't I his left arm was as free as his right there was no dreadful bulk beneath his jacket and at Penrod's age the future is too far away to be worried about the difference between temporary security and permanent security is left for grown people to Penrod security was security and before his dinner was half eaten his spirit had become fairly serene nevertheless when he entered the empty carriage house of the stable on his return from school the next afternoon his expression was not altogether without apprehension and he stood in the doorway looking well about him before he lifted a loosened plank in the flooring and took from beneath it the grand old weapon of the Williams family not did his eye lighten with any pleasurable excitement as he sat himself down in a shattery corner and began some sketchy experiments with the mechanism the allure of first sight was gone in Mr. Williams bed chamber with Sam clamoring for possession it had seemed to Penrod that nothing in the world was so desirable as to that revolver in his own hands it was his dream come true but for reasons not definitely known to him the charm had departed he turned the cylinder gingerly almost with distaste and slowly there stole over him a feeling that there was something repellent and threatening in the heavy blue steel thus does the long dreamed real misbehave not only for Penrod more out of a sense of duty to bingism in general than for any other he pointed the revolver at the lawn more and gloomily murmured bing simultaneously a low and cautious voice sounded from the yard outside yay Penrod and Sam Williams darken the doorway his eye falling instantly upon the weapon in his friend's hand Sam seemed relieved to see it you didn't get caught with it did you he said hastily Penrod shook his head rising I guess not I guess I got some brains around me he added inspired by Sam's presence to assume a slight swagger they'd have to get up pretty early to find any good old revolver once I got my hands on it I guess we can keep it all right Sam said confidently because this morning Papa was putting on his winter underclothes and he found it wasn't there and they looked all over and everywhere and he was pretty mad and said he knew it was those cheap plumbers stole it that mama got instead of the regular plumbers he always used to have and he said there wasn't any chance ever getting it back because you couldn't tell which one took it and they'd all swear it wasn't them so it looks like we could keep it for our revolver Penrod don't it I'll give you half of it Penrod affected some enthusiasm Sam will keep it out here in the stable yes and we'll go hunting with it we'll do lots of things with it but Sam made no effort to take it and neither boy seemed to feel yesterday's necessity to show the other how he did wait till next fourth of July Sam continued oh oh look out this incited a genuine spark from Penrod fourth of July I guess she'll be a little better than any firecrackers just a little bing bing bing she'll be going bing bing bing the suggestion of noise stirred his comrade I bet she'll go off louder in that time the gas works blew up I wouldn't be afraid to shoot her off anytime I bet you would said Penrod you aren't used to revolvers the way I you aren't either Sam exclaimed promptly I wouldn't be any more afraid to shoot her off than you would you would too I would not well let's see you then you talk so much and Penrod handed the weapon scornfully to Sam who at once became less self-assertive I'd shoot her off in a minute Sam said only it might break something if it hit it hold her up in the air then it can't hurt the roof can it Sam with a desperate expression lifted the revolver at arm's length both boys turned away their heads and Penrod put his fingers in his ears but nothing happened what's the matter he demanded why don't you go on if you're going to Sam lowered his arm I guess I didn't have her cock he said apologetically whereupon Penrod loudly jeered I had to shoot a revolver and didn't know how to conquer if I didn't know any more about revolvers than that I'd there Sam exclaimed managing to draw back the hammer until two chilling clicks warranted his opinion that the pistol was now ready to perform its office I guess you'll do all right to suit you this time well why don't you go ahead then you know so much and as Sam raised his arm Penrod again turned away his head and placed his four fingers in a pause followed well why don't you go ahead Penrod after waiting in keen suspense turned to behold his friend standing with his right arm above his head his left hand over his left ear and both eyes closed I can't pull the trigger said Sam indistinctly his face convulsed as in sympathy with the great muscular efforts of other parts of his body she won't pull she won't Penrod remarked with scorn all bet I could pull her Sam promptly opened his eyes and handed the weapon to Penrod all right he said with surprising unusual mildness you try her then inwardly discomforted to a disagreeable extent Penrod attempted to talk his own misgivings out of countenance poor little baby he said swinging the pistol at his side with a fair pretense of careless ease ain't even strong enough to pull a trigger poor little baby well if you can't even do that much you better watch me while I well said Sam reasonably why don't you go ahead and do it then well I am going to ain't I well then why don't you oh I'll do it fast enough to suit you I guess Penrod retorted swinging the big revolver up a little higher than his shoulder and pointing it in the direction of the double doors which opened upon the alley you better run Sam he jeered you'll be pretty scared when I shoot her off I guess well why don't you see if I will I bet you're afraid yourself oh I am am I said Penrod in a reckless voice and his finger touched the trigger it seemed to him that his finger no more than touched it perhaps he had been reassured by Sam's assertion that the trigger was difficult his intentions must remain in doubt and probably Penrod himself was not certain of them but one thing comes to the surface entirely definite that trigger was not so hard to pull as Sam said it was a shattering report split the air of the stable and there was an orifice of remarkable diameter in the alley door with these phenomena three yells expressing excitement of different kinds were almost simultaneous two from within the stable and the third from a point in the alley about 11 inches lower than the orifice just constructed in the planking of the door his third point roughly speaking was the open mouth of a gaily dressed young colored man whose attention as he strolled had been thus violently distracted from some mental computations he was making in numbers including particularly those symbols at ecstasy or woe as the case might be 7 and 11 his eye at once perceived the orifice on a line innervatingly little above the top of his head and although he had not supposed himself so well known in this neighborhood as he did here and there possess acquaintances of whom such uncomplementary action might be expected as natural and characteristic his immediate procedure was to prostrate himself flat upon the ground against the stable doors in so doing his shoulders came brusquely in contact with one of them which happened to be unfastened and it swung open revealing to his gaze two stark white white boys one of them holding an enormous pistol and both staring at him in stupor of ultimate horror to the glassy eyes of penrod and sam the stratagem of the young colored man thus dropping to earth disclosed with awful certainty a slaughtered body this dreadful thing raised itself upon its elbows and looked at them and there followed a motionless moment a tableau of brief duration for both boys turned and would have fled shrieking but the body spoke that's a nice business it said reproachfully nice business try and blow a man's head off penrod was unable to speak but sam managed to summon the tremulous semblance of a voice where, where did it hit you? he gasped nimm on anything about where it hit me the young colored man returned dusting his breast and knees as he rose I want to know what kind of white boys you think you is man can't walk long street without you blowing his head off he entered the stable and with an indignation surely justified took the pistol from the limp cold hand of penrod who's gun you playing with? where'd you get that gun? it's ours, quavered sam it belongs to us then you'll par to be rested said the young colored man letting boys play with gun he examined the revolver with an interest in which there began to appear symptoms of a pleasurable appreciation my goodness gun-like explore a team of steers through a brick house look at that gun with his right hand he twirled it in a manner most dexterous and surprising then suddenly he became severe you white boy listen to me he said if I went and did what I ought to did I'd march straight out of the stable get a policeman and tell him rest you and take you off to jail that's what you need blowing man's head off listen to me I'm going to take his gun and throw away where you can't do no more harm with her I'm going to take her way off in the woods and throw away where can't nobody find her and go blowing man's head off with her that's what I'm going to do and placing the revolver inside his coat as inconspicuously as possible he proceeded to the open door and into the alley where he turned for a final word I'll let you off this one time he said but listen me you listen white boy you better not tell your par I ain't going to tell him and you ain't going to tell him you tell him you lost her he disappeared rapidly Sam Williams swallowing continuously presently walked to the alley door and remarked in a weak voice I'm sick at my stomach he paused then added more decidedly I'm going home I guess I've stood about enough around here for one day and bestowing a last glance upon his friend who was now sitting dumbly upon the floor in the exact spot where he had stood to fire Sam moved slowly away the early shades of autumn evening were falling when pinrod emerged from the stable and a better light might have disclosed to a shrewd eye some indication that here was a boy who had been extremely if temporarily ill he went to the cistern and after a cautious glance round the reassuring horizon lifted the iron cover then he took from the inner pocket of his jacket an object which he dropped listlessly into the water it was a bit of wood whittled to the likeness of a pistol and though his lips moved not nor any sound issued from his vocal organs yet were words formed they were so deep in the person of pinrod they came almost from the slowly convalescing profundities of his stomach these words concerned firearms and they were wish I'd never seen one never want to see one again of course pinrod had no way of knowing that in regards beingism in general several of the most distinguished old gentlemen in Europe were at that very moment in exactly the same state of mind end of chapter 4 chapter 5 of pinrod and sam this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by jonathan birchard april 2009 pinrod and sam by booth tarkington chapter 5 the in or in Georgie Bassett was a boy set apart not only that Georgie knew that he was a boy set apart he would think about it for 10 or 20 minutes at a time and he could not look at himself in a mirror or remain holy without emotion what that emotion was he would have been unable to put into words but it helped him to understand that there was a certain noble something about him that other boys did not possess Georgie's mother had been the first to discover that Georgie was a boy set apart in fact Georgie did not know it until one day when he happened to overhear his mother telling two of his aunts about it true he had always understood that he was the best boy in town and he intended to be a minister when he grew up but he had never before comprehended the full extent of his sanctity and from that fraught moment onward he had an almost theatrical sense of his set apartness pinrod scofield and sam williams and the other boys of the neighborhood that there was something different and spiritual about Georgie and though this consciousness of theirs may have been a little obscure it was nonetheless actual that is to say they knew that Georgie Bassett was a boy set apart but they did not know that they knew it Georgie's air and manner at all times demonstrated to them that the thing was so and moreover their mothers absorbed appreciation of Georgie's wonderfulness from the very fount of it for Mrs. Bassett's conversation was of little else thus the radiances of his character became the topic of envious parental comment during moments of strained patience in many homes so that altogether the most remarkable fact to be stated of Georgie Bassett is that he escaped the consequences as long as he did strange as it may seem no actual violence was done to him except upon the incidental occasion of a tarfight into which he was drawn by an obvious eccentricity on the part of destiny naturally he was not popular with his comrades in all games he was pushed aside and disregarded being invariably the tail ender in every past time in which leaders chose sides his councils were slided as worse than weightless and all his opinions instantly hooded still considering the circumstances fairly and thoughtfully it is difficult to deny that his boy companions showed creditable moderation in their treatment of him that is they were moderate up to a certain date and even then they did not directly attack him there was nothing called blooded about it at all the thing was forced upon them and though they all felt pleased and uplifted while it was happening they did not understand precisely why nothing could more clearly prove their innocence of heart than this very ignorance and yet none of the grown people who later felt themselves concerned in the matter was able to look at it in that light now here was a characteristic working of those reactions that produced what is sometimes called the injustice of life because the grown people were responsible for the whole affair and were really the guilty parties it was from grown people that Georgie Bassett learned that he was a boy set apart and the effect upon him was what alienated his friends then these alienated friends were brought by odious comparisons on the part of grown people to a condition of mind wherein they suffered dumb annoyance like a low fever whenever they heard Georgie's name mentioned while association with his actual person became every day more and more irritating and yet having laid this fuse and having kept it constantly glowing the grown people expected nothing to happen to Georgie the catastrophe befell as a consequence of Sam Williams deciding to have a shack in his backyard Sam had somehow obtained a vasty piano box and a quantity of lumber and summoning Penrod Schofield and the colored brethren Herman and vermin he expounded to them his building plans and offered them shares and benefits in the institution he proposed to found acceptance was enthusiastic straight way the assembly became a union of carpenters all of one mind and ten days saw the shack not completed but comprehensible anybody could tell by that time that it was intended for a shack there was a door on leather hinges it drew perhaps but it was a door there was a window not a glass one but at least it could be looked out of as Sam said there was a chimney made of stovepipe though that was merely decorative because the cooking was done out of doors in an underground furnace that the boys excavated there were pictures pasted on the interior walls and hanging from an ale there was a crayon portrait of Sam's grandfather which he had brought down from the attic quietly though as he said it wasn't any use on earth up there there were two lame chairs from Penrod's attic and along one wall ran a low and feeble structure intended to serve as a bench or divan this would come in handy Sam said if any of the party had to lay down or anything and at a pinch such as a meeting of the association it would serve to seat all the members in a row for coincidentally with the development of the shack the builders became something more than partners later no one could remember who first suggested the founding of a secret order or society as a measure of exclusiveness and to keep the shack sacred to members only but it was an idea that presently began to be more absorbing and satisfactory than even the shack itself the outward manifestations of it might have been observed in the increased solemnity and preoccupation of the Caucasian members and in a few ceremonial observances exposed to the public eye as an instance of these latter Mrs. Williams happening to glance from a rearward window about four o'clock one afternoon found her attention arrested by what seemed to be a flag raising before the door of the shack Sam and Herman and vermin stood in attitudes of rigid attention shoulder to shoulder while Penrod Schofield facing them was apparently delivering some sort of exhortation which he read from a scribbled sheet of fool's cap concluding this he lifted from the ground a long and somewhat warped clothes prop from one end of which hung a whitish flag or pen in bearing an inscription Sam and Herman and vermin lifted their right hands while Penrod placed the other end of the clothes prop in a hole in the ground with the pen and fluttering high above the shack he then raised his own right hand and the four boys repeated something in concert it was inaudible to Mrs. Williams but she was able to make out the inscription upon the pen and it consisted of the peculiar phrase in or in done in black paint upon a muslin ground and consequently seeming to be in need of a blotter it recurred to her mind later that evening when she happened to find herself alone in a library and in merest idle curiosity she asked Sam, what does in or in mean? Sam, bending over an arithmetic uncreased his brow till it became of a blank and marble smoothness ma'am what are those words on your flag? Sam gave her a long cold mystic look rose to his feet and left the room with emphasis and dignity for a moment she was puzzled but Sam's older was this year completing his education at a university and Mrs. Williams was not altogether ignorant of the obligations of secrecy opposed upon some brotherhoods so she was able to comprehend Sam's silent withdrawal and instead of summoning him back for further questions she waited until he was out of hearing and then began to laugh Sam's action was obedience to one of the rules adopted at his own suggestion as a law of the order Penrod advocated it warmly from Margaret he had heard accounts of her friends in college and thus had learned much that ought to be done on the other hand Herman subscribed to it with reluctance expressing a decided opinion that if he and vermin were questions upon the matter at home and adopted the line of conduct required by the new rule it would be well for them to depart not only from the room in which the questioning took place but from the house and hurriedly at that and stay away he concluded vermin being tongue tied not without advantage in this case and surely an ideal qualification for membership was not so apprehensive he voted with salmon Penrod carrying the day new rules were adopted at every meeting though it cannot be said that all of them were practicable for in addition to the information possessed by salmon Penrod Herman and vermin had many ideas of their own founded upon remarks overheard at home both their parents belong to secret orders their father to the independent nevel and lodge so stated by Herman and their mother to the order of white doves from these and other sources found no difficulty in compiling material for what came to be known as the ritual and it was the ritual he was reading to the members when Mrs. Williams happened to observe the ceremonial raising of the emblem of the order the ritual contain the oath a key to the secret language or code devised by Penrod for use in uncertain emergencies and passwords for admission to the shack also instructions for recognizing a brother member in the dark and a rather alarming sketch of the things to be done during the initiation of a candidate this last was employed for the benefit of master Roderick Magsworth bits junior on the Saturday following the flag raising he presented himself in Sam's yard not for initiation indeed having no previous knowledge of the society of the in or in but for general purposes of sport and pastime at first sight of the shack he expressed anticipations of pleasure adding some suggestions for improving the architectural effect being prevented however from entering and even from standing in the vicinity of the sacred building he plaintively demanded an explanation where upon he was commanded to withdraw to the front yard for a time and the members held meeting in the shack and consented to undergo the initiation he was not the only new member that day a short time after Roddy had been taken into the shack for the reading of the ritual and other ceremonies little Maurice Levy entered the Williams gate and strolled round to the back yard looking for Sam he was surprised and delighted to behold the promising shack and like Roddy entertain fair hopes for the future the door of the shack was closed a board covered the window but a murmur of voices came from within Marie stole close and listened through the crack he could see the flicker of a candle and he heard the voice of Penrod's go-field Roddy bits, do you solemnly swear? well, alright said the voice of Roddy somewhat breathless how many fingers you see before your eyes can't see any Roddy returned how could I with this thing over my eyes and laying down on my stomach anyway then the time has come Penrod announced in solemn tones the time has come whack Roddy, a broad and flat implement was there upon applied to Roddy ow, complained the candidate no noise, said Penrod sternly and added Roddy bits must now say the oath say exactly what I say Roddy and if you don't, well you better because you'll see now say, I solemnly swear I solemnly swear, Roddy said to keep the secrets to keep the secrets, Roddy repeated to keep the secrets in infidelity and violate and sanctuary what? Roddy naturally inquired ow! cried Roddy that's no fair you got to say just what I say Penrod was hurt informing him that's the ritual and anyway, even if you do get it right vermin's got to hit you every now and then because that's part of the ritual too now go on and say it I solemnly swear to keep the secrets in infidelity and violate and sanctuary I solemnly swear Roddy began, but Maurice Levy was tired of being no party to such fascinating proceedings and he began to hammer upon the door Sam! Sam Williams! he shouted let me in there, I know lots about initiating, let me in the door was flung open revealing Roddy bits, blindfolded and bound lying face down upon the floor of the shack but Maurice had only a fugitive glimpse a pathetic figure before he too was recumbent four boys flung themselves indignantly upon him and bore him to earth hey! he squealed haven't you got any sense? and from within the shack Roddy added his own protest let me up, can't you? he cried I got to see what's going on out there haven't I? I guess I'm not going to lay here all day what you think I'm made of you hush up! Penrod commanded his business he continued, deeply aggrieved what kind of initiation do you expect this is anyhow well, here Maurice Levy is gone and seen part of the secret said Sam, in a voice of equal plaintiveness yes, and I bet he was listening out here too let me up, beg Maurice, half stifled I didn't do any harm to your old secrets did I? anyways, I just soon initiated myself I ain't afraid, so if you initiate me what difference will it make if I did a little? Struck with this idea which seemed reasonable, Penrod obtained silence from everyone except Roddy and it was decided to allow Maurice to rise and retire to the front yard the brother members then went through within the shack, elected Maurice to the fellowship, and completed the initiation of Mr. Bitts after that, Maurice was summoned and underwent the ordeal with fortitude though the newest brother, still tingling with his own experience, helped to make certain parts of the ritual unprecedentedly severe once endowed with full membership, Maurice and Roddy accepted the obligations and privileges of the order with enthusiasm both interested themselves immediately in improvements for the shack and made excursions to their home to obtain material Roddy returned with a pair of lensless mother of pearl opera glasses, a contribution that led to the creation of a new office called the Warner it was his duty to climb upon the back fence once every 15 minutes and search the horizon for intruders or anybody that hasn't got any business around here this post proved so popular at first that it was found necessary to provide for rotation in office and to shorten the interval from 15 minutes to an indefinite but much briefer period determined principally by argument between the incumbent and his successor and Maurice Levy contributed a device so pleasant and so necessary to the prevention of the interruption during meetings that Penrod and Sam wondered why they had not thought of it themselves long before it consisted of about 25 feet of garden hose in fair condition one end of it was introduced into the shack through a knot hole and the other was secured by wire around the faucet of hydrant in the stable thus if members of the order were assailed by thirst during an important session or in the course of an initiation it would not be necessary for them all to leave the shack one could go instead and when he had turned on the water at the hydrant the members in the shack could drink without leaving their places it was discovered also that this section of hose could be used as a speaking tube and though it did prove necessary to explain by shouting outside the tube what one had said into it still there was a general feeling that it provided another means of secrecy and an additional safeguard against intrusion it is true that during the half hour immediately following the installation of this convenience there was a little violence among the brothers concerning a question of policy Sam, Roddy and Vermin Vermin especially wished to use the tube to talk through and Maurice Penrod and Herman wished to use it to drink through as a consequence of the success of the latter party the shack became too damp for habitation until another day and several members as they went home at dusk might easily have been mistaken for survivors of some marine catastrophe still not every shack is equipped with running water and exuberance refitted the occasion everybody agreed that the afternoon had been one of the most successful and important in many weeks the order of the inner in was doing splendidly and yet every brother felt in his heart that there was one thing that could spoil it against that fatality all were united to protect themselves the shack, the rictural, the opera glasses and the water and speaking tube Sam spoke not only for himself but for the entire order when he declared in speeding the last parting guest well we got to stick to one thing or we might as well quit Georgie Bassett better not come poking around no sir said Penrod end of chapter 5 Chapter 6 of Penrod and Sam this Libervox recording is in the public domain recording by Jonathan Burchard April 2009 Penrod and Sam by Booth Tarkington Chapter 6 Georgie becomes a member but Georgie did it is difficult to imagine how cause and effect could be more closely and patently related inevitably Georgie did come poking around how was he to refrain when daily up and down the neighborhood the brothers strutted with mystic and important airs when they whispered together and uttered words of strange import in his presence thus did they defeat their own object they desired to keep Georgie at a distance yet they could not refrain from posing before him they wish to impress upon him the fact that he was an outsider and they but succeeded in rousing his desire to be an insider a desire that soon became a determination for few were the days until he not only knew of the shack but had actually paid it a visit that was upon a morning when the other boys were in school Georgie having found himself indisposed until about 10 o'clock when he was able to take action and subsequently to interest himself in this rather private errand he climbed the Williams alley fence and having made a modest investigation of the exterior of the shack which was padlocked retired without having disturbed anything except his own peace of mind his curiosity merely piqued before now became ravenous and painful it was not allayed by the mystic manners of the members or by the unnecessary emphasis they laid upon their coldness toward himself the committee informed him darkly that there were secret orders to prevent his coming within 116 feet such was penrod's arbitrary language of the Williams yard in any direction Georgie could bear it no longer but entered his own house and in burning words laid the case before a woman higher up here the responsibility for things is directly traceable to grown people within that hour mrs. Bassett sat in mrs. Williams library to address her hostess upon the subject of Georgie's grievance of course it isn't Sam's fault she said concluding her interpretation of the affair Georgie liked Sam and didn't blame him at all no we both felt that Sam would always be a polite nice boy Georgie used those very words but Penrod seems to have a very bad influence Georgie felt that Sam would want him to come and play in the shack if Penrod didn't make Sam do everything he wants what hurt Georgie most is that it's Sam's shack and he felt for another boy to come and tell him that he mustn't even go near it well of course it was very trying and he's very much hurt with little Maurice Levy too he said he was sure that even Penrod would be glad to have him for a member of their little club if it weren't for Maurice and I think he spoke of Roddy Bitts too the fact that the two remaining members were colored was omitted from this discourse which leads to the deduction that Georgie had not mentioned it Georgie said all the other boys liked him very much Mrs. Bassett continued and that he felt at his duty to join the club because most of them were so anxious to have him and he is sure he would have a good influence over them he really did speak of it in quite a touching way Mrs. Williams of course we mothers mustn't brag of our sons too much but Georgie really isn't like other boys he is so sensitive you can't think how this little affair has hurt him and I felt that it might even make him ill you see I had to respect his reason for wanting to join the club and if I am his mother she gave a deprecating little laugh I must say that it seems noble to want to join not really for his own sake but for the good that he felt his influence would have over the other boys don't you think so Mrs. Williams Mrs. Williams said that she did indeed and the result of this interview was another which took place between Sam and his father that evening for Mrs. Williams after talking to Sam herself felt that the matter needed a man to deal with it the man did it man fashion you either invite Georgie Bassett to play in the shack all he wants to the man said or the shack comes down but take your choice I am not going to have neighborhood quarrels over such but papa that's enough you said yourself you haven't anything against Georgie I said you said you didn't like him you couldn't tell why you couldn't state a single instance of bad behavior against him you couldn't mention anything he ever did which wasn't what a gentleman should have done it's no use I tell you either you invite Georgie to play in the shack as much as he likes next Saturday or the shack comes down but papa I am not going to talk anymore about it if you want the shack pulled down and hauled away you and your friends continue to tantalize this inoffensive little boy the way you have been if you want to keep it be polite and invite him in but that's all I said Sam was crushed next day he communicated the bitter substance of the edict to the other members and gloom became unanimous so serious an aspect did the affair present that it was felt necessary to call a special meeting of the order after school the entire membership was in attendance the door was closed the window covered with a board and the candle lighted then all of the brothers except one began to express their sorrowful apprehensions the whole thing was spoiled they agreed if Georgie had to be taken in on the other hand if they didn't take him in there wouldn't be anything left the one brother who failed to express any opinion was little vermin he was otherwise occupied vermin had been the official paddler during the initiations of Roddy Bitts and Maurice Levy his work had been conscientious and it seemed to be taken by consent that he was to continue in office an old shingle from the woodshed roof had been used for the exercise of his function in the cases of Roddy and Maurice but this afternoon he had brought with him a new one that he had picked up somewhere it was broader and thicker than the old one and during the melancholy prophecies of his fellows he whittled the lesser end of it to the likeness of a handle thus engaged he bore no appearance of despondency on the contrary his eyes shining brightly in the candlelight indicated that eager thoughts possessed him while from time to time the sound of a chuckle issued from his simple african throat gradually the other brothers began to notice his preoccupation and one by one they fell silent regarding him thoughtfully slowly the darkness of their countenances lifted a little something happier and brighter began to glimmer from each boyish face and became fascinated upon vermin well anyway said Penrod in a tone that was almost cheerful this is only Tuesday we got pretty near all week to fix up the initiation for Saturday and Saturday brought sunshine to make the occasion more tolerable for both the candidate and the society Mrs. Williams going to the window to watch Sam when he left the house after lunch marked with pleasure that his look and manner were sprightly as he skipped down the walk to the front gate and paused and yodeled for a time and answering yodel came presently Penrod Schofield appeared and by his side walked Georgie Bassett Georgie was always neat but Mrs. Williams noticed that he exhibited unusual gloss and polish today as for his expression it was a shade too complacent under the circumstances though for that matter perfect tact avoids an air of triumph under any circumstances Mrs. Williams was pleased to observe Sam and Penrod betrayed no resentment whatever they seemed to have accepted defeat in a good spirit and to be inclined to make the best of Georgie indeed they appeared to be genuinely excited about him it was evident that the cordiality was eager and wholehearted the three boys conferred for a few moments then Sam disappeared around the house and returned waving his hand and nodding upon that Penrod took Georgie's left arm Sam took his right and the three to the backyard in a companionable way that made Mrs. Williams feel it had been an excellent thing to interfere a little in Georgie's interest experiencing the benevolent warmth that comes of assisting in a good action she ascended to an apartment upstairs and for a couple of hours employed herself with needle and thread in sartorial repairs on behalf of her husband and Sam then she was interrupted by the advent of a colored serving maid Ms. Williams I reckon the house going fall down this pessimist said arriving out of breath that society of Ms. Williams suddenly trying to pull the roof down on our heads the roof? Mrs. Williams inquired mildly they aren't in the attic are they? No, they in the cellar but they reaching for the roof I never did hear no such a rumpus and squawking and squalling and falling and whooping and whacking and banging they trooped down by the outside cellar door and bang they bust loose and gone ever since wasn't bedlin if they anything down cellar ain't broke by this time it can be only just the foundation and I bet that ain't going to stand much more longer I've gone down and stop them but I'm afraid to honest Ms. Williams I'm afraid of my life go down there all that bedlin going on I thought I'd come see what you say Mrs. Williams laughed we have to stand a little noise in the house sometimes fanny when there are boys it's a pretty safe sign yes I'm fanny said it's your house Mrs. Williams not mine you want them tear it down I'm willing she departed and Mrs. Williams continued to so the days were growing short and at five o'clock she was obliged to put the work aside as her eyes did not permit her to continue it by artificial light descending to the lower floor she found the house silent and when she opened the front door to see if the evening paper had come she beheld Sam, Penrod and Maurice Levy standing near the gate engaged in quiet conversation Maurice and Penrod departed while she was looking for the paper and Sam came thoughtfully up the walk well Sam she said it wasn't such a bad thing after all to show a little politeness to Georgie Bassett was it Sam gave her a non-committal look expression of every kind had been wiped from his countenance he presented a blank surface no he said meekly everything was just a little pleasanter because you'd been friendly wasn't it yes him has Georgie gone home yes him I hear you made enough noise in the cellar did Georgie have a good time ma'am did Georgie Bassett have a good time well Sam now had the air of a person trying to remember details with absolute accuracy well he didn't say he did and he didn't say he didn't didn't he thank the boys no didn't he even thank you no why that's queer she said he's always so polite he seemed to be having a good time didn't he Sam ma'am didn't Georgie seem to be enjoying himself this question apparently so simple was not answered with promptness Sam looked at his mother in a puzzled way and then he found it a mystery to rub each of his shins in turn with the palm of his right hand I stumbled he said apologetically I stumbled on the cellar steps did you hurt yourself she asked quickly no but I guess maybe I'd better rub some arnica I'll get it she said come up to your father's bathroom Sam does it hurt much no he answered truthfully it hardly hurts at all and having followed her to the bathroom he insisted with unusual gentleness that he be left to apply the arnica to the alleged injuries himself he was so persuasive that she yielded and descended to the library where she found her husband once more at home after his day's work well he said did Georgie show up and were they decent to him oh yes it's alright Sam and Penrod were good as gold I saw them being actually cordial to him that's well Mr. William said settling into a chair with his paper I was a little apprehensive but I suppose I was mistaken I walked home and just now as I passed Mrs. Bassett's I saw Dr. Venny's car in front and that barber from the corner shop on 2nd street was going in the door I couldn't think what a widow would need a barber and a doctor for especially at the same time I couldn't think what Georgie'd need such a combination for either and then I got afraid that maybe Mrs. Williams laughed at anything to do with this having been over here I'm sure they were very nice to him well I'm glad of that yes indeed Mrs. Williams began when Fanny appeared summoning her to the telephone it is pathetically true that Mrs. Williams went to the telephone humming a little song she was detained at the instrument not more than 5 minutes then she made a plunging return into the library a blanched and stricken woman she made strange sinister gestures to her husband he sprang up miserably prophetic Mrs. Bassett go to the telephone Mrs. Williams said hoarsely she wants to talk to you too she can't talk much she's hysterical she says they lured Georgie into the cellar and had him beaten by Negroes that's not all Mr. Williams was already on his way you find Sam he commanded over his shoulder Mrs. Williams stepped into the front hall Sam she called addressing the upper reaches of the stairway Sam not even Echo answered Sam a faint clearing of somebody's throat was heard behind her a sound so modest and unobtrusive it was no more than just audible and turning the mother beheld her son sitting upon the floor in the shadow of the stairs and gazing meditatively at the hat rack his manner indicated that he wished to produce the impression that he had been sitting there in this somewhat unusual place in occupation for a considerable time but without overhearing anything that went on in the library so close by Sam she cried what have you done well I guess my legs are all right he said gently I got the Arnica on so probably they won't hurt anymore stand up she said March into the library Sam marched slow time in fact no funeral march has been composed in a time so slow as to suit this march of Sam's one might have suspected that he was in a state of apprehension Mr. Williams entered at one door as his son crossed the threshold of the other and this encounter was a piteous sight after one glance at his father's face Sam turned desperately as if to flee outright but Mrs. Williams stood in the doorway behind him you come here and the father's voice was as terrible as his face what did you do to Georgie Bassett nothing Sam gulped nothing at all what we just we just initiated him Mr. Williams turned abruptly walked to the fireplace and there turned again facing the wretched Sam that's all you did yes sir Georgie Bassett's mother has just told me over the telephone Mr. Williams said deliberately that you and Penrod Schofield and Roderick Bitts and Maurice Levy lured Georgie into the cellar and had him beaten by negroes at this Sam was able to hold up his head a little and to summon a rather feeble indignation it ain't so he declared we didn't any such thing lower him into the cellar we weren't going near the cellar with him without going down cellar he went down there himself first so I suppose he was running away from you poor thing trying to escape from you wasn't he he wasn't Sam said doggedly we weren't chasing him or anything at all then why did he go in the cellar well he didn't exactly go in the cellar Sam said reluctantly well how did he get in the cellar then he he fell in said Sam how did he fall in well the door was open and well he kept walking around there and we hollered at him to keep away but then he but just then he kind of well the first I noticed was I couldn't see him and so we went and looked down the steps and he was sitting down there on the bottom step and kind of shouting and see here Mr. Williams interrupted you're going to make a clean breast of this whole affair and take the consequences you're going to tell it and tell it all do you understand that yes sir then you tell me how Georgie Bassett fell down the cellar steps and tell me quick he he was blindfolded aha now we are getting at it you begin at the beginning and tell me just what you did to him from the time he got here understand yes sir go on then well I'm going to Sam protested we never heard him at all he wasn't even hurt when he fell down cellar there's a lot of mud down there because the cellar door leaks and Sam Mr. Williams tone was deadly did you hear me tell you to begin at the beginning Sam made a great effort and was able to obey well we had everything ready for the initiation before lunch he said we wanted it all to be nice because you said we had to have him papa and after lunch Penrod went to guard him that's a new part in the ritual and he brought him over and we took him out to the shack and blindfolded him and well he got kind of mad because we wanted him to lay down on his stomach and be tied up and he said he wouldn't because the floor was a little bit wet in there and he could feel it sort of squishy under his shoes and he said his mother didn't want him ever to get dirty and he just wouldn't do it and we all kept telling him he had to or else how could there be any initiation and he kept getting madder and said he wanted to have the initiation outdoors where it wasn't wet and he wasn't going to lay down on his stomach anyway Sam paused for wind then got underway again well some of the boys were trying to get him to lay down on his stomach and he kind of fell up against the door and it came open and he ran out in the yard he was trying to get the blindfold off his eyes but he couldn't because it was a towel and a pretty hard knot and he went tearing all around the back yard and we didn't chase him or anything all we did was just watch him and that's when he fell in the cellar well it didn't hurt him any it didn't hurt him at all but he was muddier than what he would have been if he just had sense enough to lay down in the shack well so we thought long as he was down in the cellar anyway we might as well have the rest of the initiation down there so we brought the things down and initiated him and that's all that's every bit we did to him yes said Mr. Williams sardonicly I see what were the details of the initiation sir I want to know what else you did to him what was the initiation it's it's secret Sam murmured piteously not any longer I assure you the society is a thing of the past and you'll find your friend Penrod's parents agree with me in that Mrs. Bassett had already telephoned them when she called us up you go on with your story Sam sighed deeply and yet it may have been a consolation to know that his present misery was not altogether without its counterpart through the falling dusk his spirit may have crossed the intervening distance to catch a glimpse of his friend suffering simultaneously and standing within the same peril and if Sam's spirit did thus behold Penrod in jeopardy it was a true vision go on Mr. Williams said well there wasn't any fire in the furnace because it's too warm yet and we weren't going to do anything it hurt him so we put him in there in the furnace it was cold Sam protested there hadn't been any fire there since last spring of course we told him there was fire in it we had to do that he continued earnestly because that was part of the initiation we only kept him in it a little while and kind of hammered on the outside a little and then we took him out and got him to lay down on his stomach because he was all muddy anyway where he fell down the cellar and how could it matter to anybody that had any sense at all well then we had the ritual and why the teeny little paddling he got wouldn't have hurt a flea because that little colored boy lives in the alley did it and he is in any ways near half Georgie's size but Georgie got mad and said he didn't want any old nigger to paddle him that's what he said and it was his own foolishness because vermin won't let anybody call him nigger and if Georgie was going to call him that he ought to had sense enough not to do it when he was laying down that way and vermin all ready to be the paddler and he needn't have been so mad at the rest of us either because it took us about 20 minutes to get the paddle away from vermin after that and we had to lock vermin up in the laundry room and not let him out till it was all over well and then things were kind of spoiled anyway so we didn't do but just a little more and that's all go on what was the just a little more well we got him to swallow a little teeny bit of asafidity that Penrod used to have to wear in a bag around his neck it wasn't even enough to make a person sneeze it wasn't much more than half a spoonful it wasn't hardly a quarter of a spoon ha said Mr. Williams that accounts for the doctor what else well we had some paint left over from our flag and we put just a little teeny bit of it on his hair and ha said Mr. Williams that accounts for the barber what else that's all Sam said swallowing then he got mad and went home Mr. Williams walked to the door and sternly motioned to the culprit to proceed him through it but just before the pair passed from her sight Mrs. Williams gave way to an uncontrollable impulse Sam she asked what does in or in stand for the unfortunate boy had begun to sniffle it it means in a pen and order of infidelity he moaned and plotted onward to his doom not his alone at that very moment master Roderick Magsworth Bitt's junior was suffering also consequent upon telephoning on the part of Mrs. Bassett though Roderick's punishment was administered less on the ground of Georgie's troubles and more on that of Roddie's having affiliated with an order consisting so largely of Herman and Vermin as for Maurice Levy he was no wit less unhappy he fared as ill simultaneously two ex-members of the in or in their lot fortunate something had prompted them to linger in the alley in the vicinity of the shack and it was this fated edifice that Mr. Williams with demoniac justice brought Sam for the deed he had in mind Herman and Vermin listened Ostricken to what went on within the shack then before it was over they crept away and down the alley toward their own home this was directly across the alley from the Schofield stable and they were horrified at the sounds that issued from the interior of the stable storeroom it was the St. Bartholomew's eve of that neighborhood man, man, said Herman shaking his head glad I ain't no white boy Vermin seemed gloomily to assent End of Chapter 6 Chapter 7 of Penrod and Sam Recording by Jonathan Burchard April 2009 Penrod and Sam by Booth Tarkington Chapter 7 Whitey Penrod and Sam made a gloomy discovery one morning in mid-October all the week had seen amiable breezes and fair skies until Saturday when, about breakfast time the dome of heaven filled solidly with grey vapor and began to drip the boy's discovery was that there is no justice about the weather they sat in the carriage house of the Schofield's empty stable the doors upon the alley were open and Sam and Penrod stared torpidly at the thin but implacable drizzle that was the more irritating because there was barely enough of it to interfere with the number of things they had planned to do yes, this is nice, Sam said in a tone of plaintive sarcasm this is a pretty way to do he was alluding to the personal spitefulness of the elements I'd like to know what's the sense of it all sun pouring down every day in the week when nobody needs it then cloud up and rain all Saturday my father said it's going to be a three days rain well, nobody with any sense cares if it rains Sunday and Monday Penrod said, I wouldn't care if it rained every Sunday as long as I lived but I'd just like to know what's the reason it had to go and rain today got all the days of the week to choose from and goes and picks on Saturday that's a fine business well, in vacation Sam began but at a sound from a source invisible to him he paused what's that? he said somewhat startled it was a curious sound loud and hollow and inhuman yet it seemed to be a cough both boys rose and Penrod asked uneasily where'd that noise come from it's in the alley said Sam perhaps if the day had been bright it lead to the alley doors to investigate but their actual procedure was to move a little distance in the opposite direction the strange cough sounded again say Penrod quavered what is that? then both boys uttered smothered exclamations and jumped for the long gaunt head that appeared in the doorway was entirely unexpected it was the cavernous and melancholy head of an incredibly thin old whitish horse this head waggled slowly from side to side the nostrils vibrated the mouth opened and the hollow cough sounded again recovering themselves Penrod and Sam underwent the customary human reaction from alarm to indignation what you want you old horse you Penrod shouted don't you come coughing round me and Sam seizing a stick hurled it at the intruder get out of here he roared the aged horse nervously withdrew his head turned tail and made a rickety flight up the alley while Sam and Penrod perfectly obedient to inherited impulse ran out into the drizzle and up roriously pursued they were but automatons of instinct meaning no evil certainly they did not know the singular and pathetic history of the old horse who wandered into the alley and ventured this horse about twice the age of either Penrod or Sam had lived to find himself in a unique position he was nude possessing neither harness nor halter all he had was a name Whitey and he would have answered to it by a slight change of expression if anyone had thus appropriately addressed him so forlorn was Whitey's case he was actually an independent horse he had not even an owner for two days and a half he had been his own master previous to that period he had been the property of one Abilene Morris a person of color who would have explained himself as engaged in the hauling business on the contrary the hauling business was an insignificant sideline with Mr. Morris for he had long ago given himself as utterly as fortune permitted to the talent that early in youth he had recognized as the greatest of all those surging in his bosom in his waking thoughts and in his dreams Abilene Morris was the dashing and emotional practitioner of an art probably more than Roman in antiquity Abilene was a crapshooter the hauling business was a disguise a concentration of events had brought it about that at one and the same time Abilene after a dazzling run of the dice found the hauling business an actual danger to the preservation of his liberty he won $17.60 and with the hour found himself in trouble as an officer of the Humane Society on account of an altercation with Whitey Abilene had been offered $4 for Whitey some 10 days earlier wherefore he at once drove to the shop of the junk dealer who had made the offer and announced his acquiescence in the sacrifice No sir the junk dealer said with emphasis I already done got me a good meal for my delivery Haas and that old Whitey Haas ain't worth no full dollar know-how I as a fool when I talk about throwing money on that away I know what you up to Abilene man come by here a little bit ago told me all about White man try to rest you over on the avenue yes sir he say White man going to get you yet and throw you in jail count on Whitey White man trying to find out who you is he say never mind we'll know Whitey again even if he don't know you he say he catch you by the horse so you come around trying to fix me up with Whitey so White man grab me throw me in jail go on away from here you Abilene you can't sell and you can't give Whitey to know colored man into his town you're going drown at old Haas because you set me going to jail if you get kits driving him the substance of this advice seemed good to Abilene especially as the $17.60 that in his pocket lent sweet colors to life out of jail at this time at dusk he led Whitey to a broad common at the edge of town and spoke to him finally go on about your business said Abilene you ain't my horse don't look around at me because I ain't got no quaintans with you I'm a man of money and I got my own friends I've been looking for bigger cities Haas you got you business and I got mine Mr. Haas good night Whitey found a little frosted grass upon the common and remain there all night in the morning he sought the shed where Abilene had kept him but that was across the large and busy town and Whitey was hopelessly lost he had but one eye a feeble one and his legs were not to be depended upon but he managed to cover a great deal of ground to have many painful little adventures and to get monstrously hungry and thirsty before he happened to look in upon Penrod and Sam when the two boys chased him up the alley they had no intention to cause pain they had no intention at all they were no more cruel than Duke Penrod's little old dog who followed his own instincts and making his appearance hastily through a hole in the back fence joined the pursuit with sound and fury a boy will nearly always run after anything that is running and his first impulse is to throw a stone at it this is a survival of primeval man who must take every chance to get his dinner so when Penrod and Sam drove the hapless Whitey up the alley they were really responding to an impulse thousands and thousands of years old an impulse founded upon the primordial observation that whatever runs is likely to prove edible Penrod and Sam were not bad they were never that they were something that was not their fault they were historic at the next corner Whitey turned to the right into the cross street then turning to the right again and still warmly pursued he zigzagged down a main thoroughfare until he reached another cross street which ran alongside the Scofield's yard and brought him to the foot of the alley he entered the alley and there his dim eye fell upon the open door he had previously investigated no memory of it remained but the place had a look associated in his mind with hay and as Sam and Penrod turned the corner of the alley in panting yet still vociferous pursuit Whitey stumbled up the inclined platform before the open doors staggered thunderously across the carriage house and threw another open door into a stall an apartment vacant since the occupancy of Mr. Scofield's last horse now several years deceased End of Chapter 7