登陆注册
15515000000064

第64章 CHAPTER XXII. THE HORN OF FAME(1)

"Bet he won't come back!" said Sam.

"Well, he might."

"Well, if he does and he hasn't got any horn, I got a right to call him anything I want to, and he's got to stand it. And if he doesn't come back," Sam continued, as by the code, "then I got a right to call him whatever I like next time I ketch him out."

"I expect he'll have SOME kind of ole horn, maybe," said Penrod.

"No," the skeptical Sam insisted, "he won't."

But Roddy did. Twenty minutes elapsed, and both the waiting boys had decided that they were legally entitled to call him whatever they thought fitting, when he burst in, puffing; and in his hands he bore a horn. It was a "real" one, and of a kind that neither Penrod nor Sam had ever seen before, though they failed to realize this, because its shape was instantly familiar to them.

No horn could have been simpler: it consisted merely of one circular coil of brass with a mouthpiece at one end for the musician, and a wide-flaring mouth of its own, for the noise, at the other. But it was obviously a second-hand horn; dents slightly marred it, here and there, and its surface was dull, rather greenish. There were no keys; and a badly faded green cord and tassel hung from the coil.

Even so shabby a horn as this electrified Penrod. It was not a stupendous horn, but it was a horn, and when a boy has been sighing for the moon, a piece of green cheese will satisfy him, for he can play that it is the moon.

"Gimme that HORN!" Penrod shouted, as he dashed for it.

"YAY!" Sam cried, and sought to wrest it from him. Roddy joined the scuffle, trying to retain the horn; but Penrod managed to secure it. With one free hand he fended the others off while he blew into the mouthpiece.

"Let me have it," Sam urged. "You can't do anything with it.

Lemme take it, Penrod."

"No!" said Roddy. "Let ME! My goodness! Ain't I got any right to blow my own horn?"

They pressed upon Penrod, who frantically fended and frantically blew. At last he remembered to compress his lips, and force the air through the compression.

A magnificent snort from the horn was his reward. He removed his lips from the mouthpiece, and capered in pride.

"Hah!" he cried. "Hear that? I guess _I_ can't play this good ole horn! Oh, no!"

During his capers, Sam captured the horn. But Sam had not made the best of his opportunities as an observer of bands; he thrust the mouthpiece deep into his mouth, and blew until his expression became one of agony.

"No, no!" Penrod exclaimed. "You haven't got the secret of blowin' a horn, Sam. What's the use your keepin' hold of it, when you don't know any more about it 'n that? It ain't makin' a sound! You lemme have that good ole horn back, Sam. Haven't you got sense enough to see I know how to PLAY?"

Laying hands upon it, he jerked it away from Sam. who was a little piqued over the failure of his own efforts, especially as Penrod now produced a sonarous blat--quite a long one. Sam became cross.

"My goodness!" Roddy Bitts said peevishly. "Ain't I ever goin' to get a turn at my own horn? Here you've had two turns, Penrod, and even Sam Williams--"

Sam's petulance at once directed itself toward Roddy partly because of the latter's tactless use of the word "even," and the two engaged in controversy, while Penrod was left free to continue the experiments which so enraptured him.

"Your own horn!" Sam sneered. "I bet it isn't yours! Anyway, you can't prove it's yours, and that gives me a right to call you any--"

"You better not! It is, too, mine. It's just the same as mine!"

"No, sir," said Sam; "I bet you got to take it back where you got it, and that's not anything like the same as yours; so I got a perfect right to call you whatev--"

"I do NOT haf to take it back where I got it, either!" Roddy cried, more and more irritated by his opponent's persistence in stating his rights in this matter.

"I BET they told you to bring it back," said Sam tauntingly.

"They didn't, either! There wasn't anybody there."

"Yay! Then you got to get it back before they know it's gone."

"I don't either any such a thing! I heard my Uncle Ethelbert say Sunday he didn't want it. He said he wished somebody'd take that horn off his hands so's he could buy sumpthing else. That's just exactly what he said. I heard him tell my mother. He said, 'I guess I prackly got to give it away if I'm ever goin' to get rid of it.' Well, when my own uncle says he wants to give a horn away, and he wishes he could get rid of it, I guess it's just the same as mine, soon as I go and take it, isn't it? I'm goin' to keep it."

Sam was shaken, but he had set out to demonstrate those rights of his and did not mean to yield them.

"Yes; you'll have a NICE time," he said, "next time your uncle goes to play on that horn and can't find it. No, sir; I got a perfect ri--"

"My uncle don't PLAY on it!" Roddy shrieked. "It's an ole wore- out horn nobody wants, and it's mine, I tell you! I can blow on it, or bust it, or kick it out in the alley and leave it there, if I want to!"

"No, you can't!"

"I can, too!"

"No, you can't. You can't PROVE you can, and unless you prove it, I got a perf--"

Roddy stamped his foot. "I can, too!" he shrieked. "You ole durn jackass, I can, too! I can, can, can, can--"

Penrod suddenly stopped his intermittent production of blats, and intervened. "_I_ know how you can prove it, Roddy," he said briskly. "There's one way anybody can always prove sumpthing belongs to them, so that nobody'd have a right to call them what they wanted to. You can prove it's yours, EASY!"

"How?"

"Well," said Penrod, "if you give it away."

"What you mean?" asked Roddy, frowning.

"Well, look here," Penrod began brightly. "You can't give anything away that doesn't belong to you, can you?"

"No."

"So, then," the resourceful boy continued, "f'r instance, if you give this ole horn to me, that'd prove it was yours, and Sam'd haf to say it was, and he wouldn't have any right to--"

"I won't do it!" said Roddy sourly. "I don't want to give you that horn. What I want to give you anything at all for?"

同类推荐
  • In the Carquinez Woods

    In the Carquinez Woods

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 分别业报略经

    分别业报略经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 白华山人诗说

    白华山人诗说

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • On the Parts of Animals

    On the Parts of Animals

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 舍头谏经

    舍头谏经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 霸气冲天系列10

    霸气冲天系列10

    杀人有罪吗?当你的命运掌握在别人手里的时候,当你带着不凡的使命去杀人的时候,当你不杀人便被别人杀的时候--你不杀人,便即意味着死亡,意味着有罪……
  • 魔血诛神

    魔血诛神

    一个未知身世的少年,因为一场突如其来的屠杀,踏上了复仇之路。为报血仇,先入修真之门,后坠炼魔之道。而当身世之谜逐渐解开,一切坚持,却又似乎失去了本来的意义。为了心中执念,唯以沸腾魔血,诛灭万界神魔。
  • 超级系统之丧尸空间

    超级系统之丧尸空间

    凌雨:“智障年年有今年特别多,听说丧尸肉挺好吃,明天带份回来……”眼前一黑。“系统大哥,我只是说说玩的呢……”咱们别玩一言不和就穿越啊!来吧,我要,我要……我现在就要!新人见谅,如有疑问多多包含……
  • 八域风云录

    八域风云录

    这书讲述八域内巩霜、夏一凡等12公子等各样经历,有破案、探秘、江湖、宗教……看腻了升级打怪,来看这书。
  • 亚特兰蒂斯之倾覆大陆

    亚特兰蒂斯之倾覆大陆

    亚特兰蒂斯最混沌的时期,想要结束战争却必须依靠战争,成为这个时代最大的讽刺!谁能决定这个世界最终的走向?为寻找人生方向踏上流浪之路的作家,“天之北斗何其蓝,折翅骄鹰涉宇难!”通晓一切丧失情感之人,“如果敌军中出现了那个男人的名字,那就意味着我们走到了尽头!”摒弃仇恨引导人类的天使族末代之君,“无论你曾经有多么强大战胜过多少敌人,只要有一次错误的决策就足以让你走上末路,这就是战争!”
  • 世界历史博览4

    世界历史博览4

    当人类生活在洞穴,隐藏于悬崖的时候;当人类唯一的工具是石头的时候;当每个人不得不为自己的食物而进行打猎的时候;当人类的衣服是以动物的皮做成的时候。那时没有城市,没有大型的建筑,没有现代生活中的安逸,从史前史到现代世界的跨时空旅程,世界历史的发展是曲折而神奇的,为了使青少年朋友更好地了解世界历史,我们编著了这套《世界历史博览》。
  • 我想给这个世界一个耳光

    我想给这个世界一个耳光

    这是由一段真实的爱情故事改编的爱情小说,暮然回首,一切已成枉然,虚幻似梦,付仁义在一次网上与陈晨偶然相遇,然后开始了她们崎岖曲折轰轰烈烈的爱情故事,让人感觉荡气回肠。在经历无数次坎坷,她们如愿以偿的走在一起。当她们以为可以在一起幸福生活的时候,爱情又如泡沫,被现实击得粉碎。最后形同陌路,成为老死不相往来的陌路人。让人深感凄凉,世事无常。
  • 信仰之神

    信仰之神

    “你是我第一亿八百六十六个学徒,我的记忆即将苏醒,宇宙……颤抖吧!”神之所以称神,是因为他做到人所不能做到的事情,但人也不是禽兽,他想七情,要六欲。大魔将醒,叱咤风云,蒙乐无意触犯,惹得大魔叫苦连连,区区一个小子竟然有如此能耐?欲杀之,必看之!
  • 神奇宝贝之宝箱系统

    神奇宝贝之宝箱系统

    2029年,神奇宝贝ol已经热火朝天,这个游戏无论是少年,还是青年,甚至有一部分老人都在玩,可以想象这个游戏是多么火热,而李少白是神奇宝贝ol国服前三名,要不是“国服第一战爷"充的钱多,他就是国服第一,而李少白打完排位赛出去散步却被仙界的弥天仙人雕刻灵天石的残渣砸死,弥天仙人答应李太白去二次元位面的神奇宝贝世界。从此,小智不再是主角了,小霞也不再是他的伙伴了,只有小刚陪他过。什么?火箭队来捣乱?那我用精灵叫他做人
  • 那些曾经日子

    那些曾经日子

    他,从一个年级前几名堕落了,但他从不后悔,没事不找事,有事不怕事。这是他的原则。不要说他变了,他曾经也单纯过,这都是被逼的。