try to scoop it in toward his teeth with his lip,
and then he'd haf to kind of blow out his breath, and after that all
the grass that'd be left was just some wet pieces stickin' to the
outsides of his face. Well, and you know how he acted about that maple
branch. We can't trust him with branches."

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 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!