Penrod and Sam

by Booth Tarkington

  CHAPTER XIV. CAMERA WORK IN THE JUNGLE

  The completed cage, with Gipsy behind the bars, framed a spectaclesufficiently thrilling and panther-like. Gipsy raved, "spat", struckvirulently at taunting fingers, turned on his wailing siren for minutesat a time, and he gave his imitation of a dromedary almost continuously.These phenomena could be intensified in picturesqueness, the boysdiscovered, by rocking the cage a little, tapping it with a hammer,or raking the bars with a stick. Altogether, Gipsy was having a livelyafternoon.

  There came a vigorous rapping on the alley door of the stable, andVerman was admitted.

  "Yay, Verman!" cried Sam Williams. "Come and look at our good olepanther!"

  Another curiosity, however, claimed Verman's attention. His eyes openedwide, and he pointed at Herman's legs.

  "Wha' ma' oo? Mammy hay oo hip ap hoe-woob."

  "Mammy tell ME git 'at stove-wood?" Herman interpreted resentfully."How'm I go' git 'at stove-wood when my britches down bottom 'atcistern, I like you answer ME please? You shet 'at do' behime you!"

  Verman complied, and again pointing to his brother's legs, requested tobe enlightened.

  "Sin' I tole you once they down bottom 'at cistern," Herman shouted,much exasperated. "You wan' know how come so, you ast Sam Williams. Hesay thishere cat tuck an' th'owed 'em down there!"

  Sam, who was busy rocking the cage, remained cheerfully absorbed in thatoccupation.

  "Come look at our good ole panther, Verman," he called. "I'll get thiscircus-cage rockin' right good, an' then--"

  "Wait a minute," said Penrod; "I got sumpthing I got to think about.Quit rockin' it! I guess I got a right to think about sumpthing withouthavin' to go deaf, haven't I?"

  Having obtained the quiet so plaintively requested, he knit his brow andgazed intently upon Verman, then upon Herman, then upon Gipsy. Evidentlyhis idea was fermenting. He broke the silence with a shout.

  "_I_ know, Sam! I know what we'll do NOW! I just thought of it, and it'sgoin' to be sumpthing I bet there aren't any other boys in this towncould do, because where would they get any good ole panther like we got,and Herman and Verman? And they'd haf to have a dog, too--and we gotour good ole Dukie, I guess. I bet we have the greatest ole time thisafternoon we ever had in our lives!"

  His enthusiasm roused the warm interest of Sam--and Verman, thoughHerman, remaining cold and suspicious, asked for details.

  "An' I like to hear if it's sump'm'," he concluded, "what's go' git memy britches back outen 'at cistern!"

  "Well, it ain't exackly that," said Penrod. "It's different from that.What I'm thinkin' about, well, for us to have it the way it ought to be,so's you and Verman would look like natives--well, Verman ought to takeoff his britches, too."

  "Mo!" said Verman, shaking his head violently. "Mo!"

  "Well, wait a minute, can't you?" Sam Williams said. "Give Penrod achance to say what he wants to, first, can't you? Go on, Penrod."

  "Well, you know, Sam," said Penrod, turning to this sympathetic auditor;"you remember that movin'-pitcher show we went to, 'Fortygraphing WildAnimals in the Jungle'. Well, Herman wouldn't have to do a thing more tolook like those natives we saw that the man called the 'beaters'. Theywere dressed just about like the way he is now, and if Verman--"

  "MO!" said Verman.

  "Oh, WAIT a minute, Verman!" Sam entreated. "Go on, Penrod."

  "Well, we can make a mighty good jungle up in the loft," Penrodcontinued eagerly. "We can take that ole dead tree that's out in thealley and some branches, and I bet we could have the best jungle youever saw. And then we'd fix up a kind of place in there for our panther,only, of course, we'd haf to keep him in the cage so's he wouldn't runaway; but we'd pretend he was loose. And then you remember how theydid with that calf? Well, we'd have Duke for the tied-up calf for thepanther to come out and jump on, so they could fortygraph him. Hermancan be the chief beater, and we'll let Verman be the other beaters, andI'll--"

  "Yay!" shouted Sam Williams. "I'll be the fortygraph man!"

  "No," said Penrod; "you be the one with the gun that guards thefortygraph man, because I'm the fortygraph man already. You can fix up amighty good gun with this carpenter shop, Sam. We'll make spears forour good ole beaters, too, and I'm goin' to make me a camera out o' thatlittle starch-box and a bakin'-powder can that's goin' to be a mightygood ole camera. We can do lots more things--"

  "Yay!" Sam cried. "Let's get started!" He paused. "Wait a minute,Penrod. Verman says he won't--"

  "Well, he's got to!" said Penrod.

  "I momp!" Verman insisted, almost distinctly.

  They began to argue with him; but, for a time, Verman remained firm.They upheld the value of dramatic consistency, declaring that a beaterdressed as completely as he was "wouldn't look like anything at all". Hewould "spoil the whole biznuss", they said, and they praised Hermanfor the faithful accuracy of his costume. They also insisted that thegarment in question was much too large for Verman, anyway, having beenso recently worn by Herman and turned over to Verman with insufficientalteration, and they expressed surprise that "anybody with any sense"should make such a point of clinging to a misfit.

  Herman sided against his brother in this controversy, perhaps because acertain loneliness, of which he was censcious, might be assuaged by thecompany of another trouserless person--or it may be that his motive wasmore sombre. Possibly he remembered that Verman's trousers were his ownformer property and might fit him in case the promise for five o'clockturned out badly. At all events, Verman finally yielded under greatpressure, and consented to appear in the proper costume of the multitudeof beaters it now became his duty to personify.

  Shouting, the boys dispersed to begin the preparation of their junglescene. Sam and Penrod went for branches and the dead tree, while Hermanand Verman carried the panther in his cage to the loft, where thefirst thing that Verman did was to hang his trousers on a nail in aconspicuous and accessible spot near the doorway. And with the arrivalof Penrod and Sam, panting and dragging no inconsiderable thicket afterthem, the coloured brethren began to take a livelier interest in things.Indeed, when Penrod, a little later, placed in their hands two spears,pointed with tin, their good spirits were entirely restored, and theyeven began to take a pride in being properly uncostumed beaters.

  Sam's gun and Penrod's camera were entirely satisfactory, especially thelatter. The camera was so attractive, in fact, that the hunter and thechief beater and all the other beaters immediately resigned and insistedupon being photographers. Each had to be given a "turn" before thejungle project could be resumed.

  "Now, for goodnesses' sakes," said Penrod, taking the camera fromVerman, "I hope you're done, so's we can get started doin something likewe ought to! We got to have Duke for a tied-up calf. We'll have to bringhim and tie him out here in front the jungle, and then the panther'llcome out and jump on him. Wait, and I'll go bring him."

  Departing upon this errand, Penrod found Duke enjoying the decliningrays of the sun in the front yard.

  "Hyuh, Duke!" called his master, in an indulgent tone. "Come on, goodole Dukie! Come along!"

  Duke rose conscientiously and followed him.

  "I got him, men!" Penrod called from the stairway. "I got our goodole calf all ready to be tied up. Here he is!" And he appeared in thedoorway with the unsuspecting little dog beside him.

  Gipsy, who had been silent for some moments, instantly raised hisbanshee battlecry, and Duke yelped in horror. Penrod made a wild effortto hold him; but Duke was not to be detained. Unnatural strength andactivity came to him in his delirium, and, for the second or two thatthe struggle lasted, his movements were too rapid for the eyes of thespectators to follow--merely a whirl and blur in the air could be seen.Then followed a sound of violent scrambling and Penrod sprawled alone atthe top of the stairs.

  "Well, why'n't you come and help me?" he demanded indignantly. "Icouldn't get him back now if I was to try a million years!"

  "What we goin' to do about it?" Sam asked.

  Penrod rose and dust
ed his knees. "We got to get along without anytied-up calf--that's certain! But I got to take those fortygraphs SOMEway or other!"

  "Me an' Verman aw ready begin 'at beatin'," Herman suggested. "You toleus we the beaters."

  "Well, wait a minute," said Penrod, whose feeling for realism in dramawas always alert. "I want to get a mighty good pitcher o' that olepanther this time." As he spoke, he threw open the wide door intendedfor the delivery of hay into the loft from the alley below. "Now, bringthe cage over here by this door so's I can get a better light; it'sgettin' kind of dark over where the jungle is. We'll pretend there isn'tany cage there, and soon as I get him fortygraphed, I'll holler, 'Shoot,men!' Then you must shoot, Sam--and Herman, you and Verman must hammeron the cage with your spears, and holler: 'Hoo! Hoo!' and pretend you'respearin' him."

  "Well, we aw ready!" said Herman. "Hoo! Hoo!"

  "Wait a minute," Penrod interposed, frowningly surveying the cage. "Igot to squat too much to get my camera fixed right." He assumed varioussolemn poses, to be interpreted as those of a photographer studying hissubject. "No," he said finally; "it won't take good that way."

  "My gootness!" Herman exclaimed. "When we goin' begin 'at beatin'?"

  "Here!" Apparently Penrod had solved a weighty problem. "Bring thatbusted ole kitchen chair, and set the panther up on it. There! THAT'Sthe ticket! This way, it'll make a mighty good pitcher!" He turned toSam importantly. "Well, Jim, is the chief and all his beaters here?"

  "Yes, Bill; all here," Sam responded, with an air of loyalty.

  "Well, then, I guess we're ready," said Penrod, in his deepest voice."Beat, men."

  Herman and Verman were anxious to beat. They set up the loudest uproarof which they were capable. "Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!" they bellowed, flailingthe branches with their spears and stamping heavily upon the floor.Sam, carried away by the elan of the performance, was unable to resistjoining them. "Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!" he shouted. "Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!" And as thedust rose from the floor to their stamping, the three of them producedsuch a din and hoo-hooing as could be made by nothing on earth exceptboys.

  "Back, men!" Penrod called, raising his voice to the utmost. "Back foryour lives. The PA-A-ANTHER! Now I'm takin' his pitcher. Click, click!Shoot, men; shoot!"

  "Bing! Bing!" shouted Sam, levelling his gun at the cage, while Hermanand Verman hammered upon it, and Gipsy cursed boys, the world and theday he was born. "Bing! Bing! Bing!"

  "You missed him!" screamed Penrod. "Give me that gun!" And snatching itfrom Sam's unwilling hand, he levelled it at the cage.

  "BING!" he roared.

  Simultaneously there was the sound of another report; but this was anactual one and may best be symbolized by the statement that it was awhack. The recipient was Herman, and, outrageously surprised and pained,he turned to find himself face to face with a heavily built colouredwoman who had recently ascended the stairs and approached thepreoccupied hunters from the rear. In her hand was a lath, and, even asHerman turned, it was again wielded, this time upon Verman.

  "MAMMY!"

  "Yes; you bettuh holler, 'Mammy!"' she panted. "My goo'ness, if yo'pappy don' lam you to-night! Ain' you got no mo' sense 'an to let whiteboys 'suede you play you Affikin heathums? Whah you britches?"

  "Yonnuh Verman's," quavered Herman.

  "Whah y'own?"

  Choking, Herman answered bravely:

  "'At ole cat tuck an' th'owed 'em down cistern!"

  Exasperated almost beyond endurance, she lifted the lath again. Butunfortunately, in order to obtain a better field of action, she movedbackward a little, coming in contact with the bars of the cage, acircumstance that she overlooked. More unfortunately still, the longingof the captive to express his feelings was such that he would havewelcomed the opportunity to attack an elephant. He had been strikingand scratching at inanimate things and at boys out of reach for the pasthour; but here at last was his opportunity. He made the most of it.

  "I learn you tell me cat th'owed--OOOOH!"

  The coloured woman leaped into the air like an athlete, and, turningwith a swiftness astounding in one of her weight, beheld the semaphoricarm of Gipsy again extended between the bars and hopefully reaching forher. Beside herself, she lifted her right foot briskly from the ground,and allowed the sole of her shoe to come in contact with Gipsy's cage.

  The cage moved from the tottering chair beneath it. It passed throughthe yawning hay-door and fell resoundingly to the alley below, where--asPenrod and Sam, with cries of dismay, rushed to the door and lookeddown--it burst asunder and disgorged a large, bruised and chastenedcat. Gipsy paused and bent one strange look upon the broken box. Then heshook his head and departed up the alley, the two boys watching him tillhe was out of sight.

  Before they turned, a harrowing procession issued from thecarriage-house doors beneath them. Herman came first, hurriedlycompleting a temporary security in Verman's trousers. Verman followed,after a little reluctance that departed coincidentally with someinspiriting words from the rear. He crossed the alley hastily, and hisMammy stalked behind, using constant eloquence and a frequent lath. Theywent into the small house across the way and closed the door.

  Then Sam turned to Penrod.

  "Penrod," he said thoughtfully, "was it on account of fortygraphing inthe jungle you wanted to keep that cat?"

  "No; that was a mighty fine-blooded cat. We'd of made some money."

  Sam jeered.

  "You mean when we'd sell tickets to look at it in its cage?"

  Penrod shook his head, and if Gipsy could have overheard and understoodhis reply, that atrabilious spirit, almost broken by the events of theday, might have considered this last blow the most overwhelming of all.

  "No," said Penrod; "when she had kittens."