, 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 chasin' 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 walkin' around there, and
we hollered at him to keep away, 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're 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 goin' to," Sam protested. "We never hurt 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's 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 'nishiation 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
rixual--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 stummick 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 squashy 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 'nishiation; and he kept
gettin' madder and said he wanted to have the 'nishiation outdoors where
it wasn't wet and he wasn't goin' to lay down on his stummick, anyway."
Sam paused for wind, then got under way again: "Well, some of the boys
were tryin' to get