."

Sam jumped up.

"_I_ know!" he cried. "There's lots of leaves left on the branches. We
can give them to him."

"I just said--"

"I don't mean the branches," Sam explained. "We'll leave the branches on
the trees, but just pull the leaves off the branches and put 'em in the
bucket and feed 'em to him out of the bucket."

Penrod thought this plan worth trying, and for three-quarters of an hour
the two boys were busy with the lower branches of various trees in the
yard. Thus they managed to supply Whitey with a fair quantity of wet
leaves, which he ate in a perfunctory way, displaying little of his
earlier enthusiasm. And the work of his purveyors might have been more
tedious if it had been less damp, for a boy is seldom bored by anything
that involves his staying-out in the rain without protection. The
drizzle had thickened; the leaves were heavy with water, and at every
jerk the branches sent fat drops over the two collectors. They attained
a noteworthy state of sogginess.

Finally, they were brought to the attention of the authorities indoors,
and Della appeared upon the back porch.

"Musther Penrod," she called, "y'r mamma says ye'll c'm in the house
this minute an' change y'r shoes an' stockin's an' everythun' else ye
got on! D'ye hear me?"

Penrod, taken by surprise and unpleasantly alarmed, darted away from the
tree he was depleting and ran for the stable.

"You tell her I'm dry as toast!" he shouted over his shoulder.

Della withdrew, wearing the air of a person gratuitously insulted; and
a moment later she issued from the kitchen, carrying an umbrella. She
opened it and walked resolutely to the stable.

"She says I'm to bring ye in the house," said Della, "an' I'm goin' to
bring ye!"

Sam had joined Penrod in the carriage-house, and, with the beginnings
of an unnamed terror, the two beheld this grim advance. But they did not
stay for its culmination. Without a word to each other they hurriedly
tiptoed up the stairs to the gloomy loft, and there they paused,
listening.

They heard Della's steps upon the carriage-house floor.

"Ah, there's plenty places t'hide in," they heard her say; "but I'll
show ye! She tole me to bring ye, and I'm--"

She was interrupted by a peculiar sound--loud, chilling, dismal, and
unmistakably not of human origin. The boys knew it for Whitey's cough;
but Della had not their experience. A smothered shriek reached their
ears; there was a scurrying noise, and then, with