Penrod and Sam

utes at a time, and he could not look at himself in a mirror and remain wholly without emotion. What that emotion was, he would have been u

s 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; bu

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 conv

they were moderate up to a certain date, and even then they did not directly attack him-there was nothing cold-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 produce what is sometimes called "the injustice of life", because the grown people wer

d and the coloured brethren, Herman and Verman, he expounded to them his building-plans and offered them shares and benefits in the institution he proposed to found. Acceptance was enthusiastic; st

und "furnace" that the boys excavated. There were pictures pasted on the interior walls, and, hanging from a nail, 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 chair

ublic 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 Verman 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 foolscap. Concluding this, he lifted from the ground a long and somewhat warped clothes-prop, from one end of whi

d to find herself alone with Sam in the library, and, in mere

uncreased his brow till it became

a'

ose words on

year completing his education at a university, and Mrs. Williams was not altogether ignorant of the obligations of secrecy imposed upon some brotherhoods; so she was

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 Verman were questioned upon the matter at home and adopted the lin

and surely an ideal qualification for membership-was not so

possessed by Sam and Penrod, Herman and Verman had many ideas of their own, founded upon remarks overheard at home. Both their parents be

came to be known as the "rixual"; and it was the rixual he was reading to the members

in emergencies) and passwords for admission to the shack, also instructions for recognizing a brother memb

n-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

xual and other ceremonies, little Maurice Levy entered the Williams' gate and strolled round to the backyard, looking for

ices came from within. Maurice stole close and listened. Through a crack he coul

, do you sol

id the voice of Roddy

ers you see be

ould I, with this thing over my eyes, a

Penrod announced in solemn

ac

flat implement was the

lained the

say the oath. Say exackly what I say, Roddy, and if you don't-we

y swear-"

p the s

secrets-" R

in infadelaty and v

dy naturall

ac

Roddy. "That

f you do get it right, Verman's got to hit you every now and then, because that's part of the rixual, to

y swear-"

party to such fascinating proceedings

d. "Lemme in there! I know lot

he floor of the shack; but Maurice had only a fugitive glimpse of this pathetic figure before

hat you doin'? Haven'

he shack, Roddy ad

's goin' on out there, haven't I? I guess I'm not go

iznuss!" he continued, deeply aggrieved. "What kin

secrets," said Sam, in a voice of equal plaintivene

ecrets, did I? Anyways, I just as soon be 'nishiated myself. I ain't afraid.

ard. The brother members then withdrew within the shack, elected Maurice to the fellowship, and completed the initiation of Mr. Bitts. After that, Maurice was summoned an

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 fifteen minutes and search the horizon for intruders or "anybody that hasn't got any biznuss around

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 the 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 t

s. The Order of the In-Or-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 th

or we might as well quit! GEORGIE BA

R!" sai