Sam. "I got to have that horn," he said.

Sam, who had been sitting in the wheelbarrow, jumped up and began to
dance triumphantly.

"Yay! It WASN'T his, after all! Roddy Bitts told a big l--"

"I never, either!" Roddy almost wailed.

"Well, what you want the horn back for?" the terrible Sam demanded.

"Well, 'cause I want it. I got a right to want it if I want to, haven't
I?"

Penrod's face had flushed with indignation.

"You look here, Sam," he began hotly. "Didn't you hear Roddy say this
was his horn?"

"He said it!" Sam declared. "He said it a million times!"

"Well, and didn't he sell this horn to me?"

"Yes, SIR!"

"Didn't I pay him money cash down for it?"

"Two dollars!"

"Well, and ain't it my horn now, Sam?"

"You bet you!"

"YES, sir!" Penrod went on with vigour. "It's my horn now whether it
belonged to you or not, Roddy, because you SOLD it to me and I paid my
good ole money for it. I guess a thing belongs to th`, person that paid
their own money for it, doesn't it? _I_ don't haf to give up my own
propaty, even if you did come on over here and told us a big l--"

"_I_ NEVER!" shouted Roddy. "It was my horn, too, and I didn't tell any
such a thing!" He paused; then, reverting to his former manner, said
stubbornly, "I got to have that horn back. I GOT to!"

"Why'n't you tell us what FOR, then?" Sam insisted.

Roddy's glance at this persecutor was one of anguish.

"I know my own biz'nuss!" he muttered.

And while Sam jeered, Roddy turned to Penrod desperately.

"You gimme that horn back! I got to have it."

But Penrod followed Sam's lead.

"Well, why can't you tell us what FOR?" he asked.

Perhaps if Sam had not been there, Roddy could have unbosomed himself.
He had no doubt of his own virtue in this affair, and he was conscious
that he had acted in good faith throughout--though, perhaps, a little
impulsively. But he was in a predicament, and he knew that if he became
more explicit, Sam could establish with undeniable logic those rights
about which he had been so odious the day before. Such triumph for
Sam was not within Roddy's power to contemplate; he felt that he would
rather die, or sumpthing.

"I got to have that horn!" he reiterated woodenly.

Penrod had no intention to humour this preposterous boy, and it was
only out of curiosity that he asked, "Well, if you want the horn back,
where's the two dollars?"

"I spent it. I bought an air-gun for a dollar and sixty-five cents