CHAPTER I “ TOM ! ”
No answer .
“ TOM ! ”
No answer .
“ What 's gone with that boy , I wonder ?
You TOM ! ”
No answer .
The old lady pulled her spectacles down and looked over them about the room ; then she put them up and looked out under them .
She seldom or never looked _ through _ them for so small a thing as a boy ; they were her state pair , the pride of her heart , and were built for “ style , ” not service -- she could have seen through a pair of stove-lids just as well .
She looked perplexed for a moment , and then said , not fiercely , but still loud enough for the furniture to hear : “ Well , I lay if I get hold of you I 'll -- ” She did not finish , for by this time she was bending down and punching under the bed with the broom , and so she needed breath to punctuate the punches with .
She resurrected nothing but the cat .
“ I never did see the beat of that boy ! ”
She went to the open door and stood in it and looked out among the tomato vines and “ jimpson ” weeds that constituted the garden .
No Tom .
So she lifted up her voice at an angle calculated for distance and shouted : “ Y-o-u-u TOM ! ”
There was a slight noise behind her and she turned just in time to seize a small boy by the slack of his roundabout and arrest his flight .
“ There !
I might ' a ' thought of that closet .
What you been doing in there ? ”
“ Nothing . ”
“ Nothing !
Look at your hands .
And look at your mouth .
What _ is _ that truck ? ”
“ I do n't know , aunt . ”
“ Well , I know .
It 's jam -- that 's what it is .
Forty times I 've said if you did n't let that jam alone I 'd skin you .
Hand me that switch . ”
The switch hovered in the air -- the peril was desperate -- “ My !
Look behind you , aunt ! ”
The old lady whirled round , and snatched her skirts out of danger .
The lad fled on the instant , scrambled up the high board-fence , and disappeared over it .
His aunt Polly stood surprised a moment , and then broke into a gentle laugh .
“ Hang the boy , ca n't I never learn anything ?
Ai n't he played me tricks enough like that for me to be looking out for him by this time ?
But old fools is the biggest fools there is .
Ca n't learn an old dog new tricks , as the saying is .
But my goodness , he never plays them alike , two days , and how is a body to know what 's coming ?
He ' pears to know just how long he can torment me before I get my dander up , and he knows if he can make out to put me off for a minute or make me laugh , it 's all down again and I ca n't hit him a lick .
I ai n't doing my duty by that boy , and that 's the Lord 's truth , goodness knows .
Spare the rod and spile the child , as the Good Book says .
I 'm a laying up sin and suffering for us both , I know .
He 's full of the Old Scratch , but laws-a-me !
he 's my own dead sister 's boy , poor thing , and I ai n't got the heart to lash him , somehow .
Every time I let him off , my conscience does hurt me so , and every time I hit him my old heart most breaks .
Well-a-well , man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble , as the Scripture says , and I reckon it 's so .
He 'll play hookey this evening , * and [ * Southwestern for “ afternoon ” ] I 'll just be obleeged to make him work , tomorrow , to punish him .
It 's mighty hard to make him work Saturdays , when all the boys is having holiday , but he hates work more than he hates anything else , and I 've _ got _ to do some of my duty by him , or I 'll be the ruination of the child . ”
Tom did play hookey , and he had a very good time .
He got back home barely in season to help Jim , the small colored boy , saw next-day 's wood and split the kindlings before supper -- at least he was there in time to tell his adventures to Jim while Jim did three-fourths of the work .
Tom 's younger brother ( or rather half-brother ) Sid was already through with his part of the work ( picking up chips ) , for he was a quiet boy , and had no adventurous , trouble-some ways .
While Tom was eating his supper , and stealing sugar as opportunity offered , Aunt Polly asked him questions that were full of guile , and very deep -- for she wanted to trap him into damaging revealments .
Like many other simple-hearted souls , it was her pet vanity to believe she was endowed with a talent for dark and mysterious diplomacy , and she loved to contemplate her most transparent devices as marvels of low cunning .
Said she : “ Tom , it was middling warm in school , war n't it ? ”
“ Yes 'm . ”
“ Powerful warm , war n't it ? ”
“ Yes 'm . ”
“ Did n't you want to go in a-swimming , Tom ? ”
A bit of a scare shot through Tom -- a touch of uncomfortable suspicion .
He searched Aunt Polly 's face , but it told him nothing .
So he said : “ No 'm -- well , not very much . ”
The old lady reached out her hand and felt Tom 's shirt , and said : “ But you ai n't too warm now , though . ”
And it flattered her to reflect that she had discovered that the shirt was dry without anybody knowing that that was what she had in her mind .
But in spite of her , Tom knew where the wind lay , now .
So he forestalled what might be the next move : “ Some of us pumped on our heads -- mine 's damp yet .
See ? ”
Aunt Polly was vexed to think she had overlooked that bit of circumstantial evidence , and missed a trick .
Then she had a new inspiration : “ Tom , you did n't have to undo your shirt collar where I sewed it , to pump on your head , did you ?
Unbutton your jacket ! ”
The trouble vanished out of Tom 's face .
He opened his jacket .
His shirt collar was securely sewed .
“ Bother !
Well , go ' long with you .
I 'd made sure you 'd played hookey and been a-swimming .
But I forgive ye , Tom .
I reckon you 're a kind of a singed cat , as the saying is -- better 'n you look .
_ This _ time . ”
She was half sorry her sagacity had miscarried , and half glad that Tom had stumbled into obedient conduct for once .
But Sidney said : “ Well , now , if I did n't think you sewed his collar with white thread , but it 's black . ”
“ Why , I did sew it with white !
Tom ! ”
But Tom did not wait for the rest .
As he went out at the door he said : “ Siddy , I 'll lick you for that . ”
In a safe place Tom examined two large needles which were thrust into the lapels of his jacket , and had thread bound about them -- one needle carried white thread and the other black .
He said : “ She 'd never noticed if it had n't been for Sid .
Confound it !
sometimes she sews it with white , and sometimes she sews it with black .
I wish to gee-miny she 'd stick to one or t ' other -- I ca n't keep the run of 'em .
But I bet you I 'll lam Sid for that .
I 'll learn him ! ”
He was not the Model Boy of the village .
He knew the model boy very well though -- and loathed him .
Within two minutes , or even less , he had forgotten all his troubles .
Not because his troubles were one whit less heavy and bitter to him than a man 's are to a man , but because a new and powerful interest bore them down and drove them out of his mind for the time -- just as men 's misfortunes are forgotten in the excitement of new enterprises .
This new interest was a valued novelty in whistling , which he had just acquired from a negro , and he was suffering to practise it un-disturbed .
It consisted in a peculiar bird-like turn , a sort of liquid warble , produced by touching the tongue to the roof of the mouth at short intervals in the midst of the music -- the reader probably remembers how to do it , if he has ever been a boy .
Diligence and attention soon gave him the knack of it , and he strode down the street with his mouth full of harmony and his soul full of gratitude .
He felt much as an astronomer feels who has discovered a new planet -- no doubt , as far as strong , deep , unalloyed pleasure is concerned , the advantage was with the boy , not the astronomer .
The summer evenings were long .
It was not dark , yet .
Presently Tom checked his whistle .
A stranger was before him -- a boy a shade larger than himself .
A new-comer of any age or either sex was an im-pressive curiosity in the poor little shabby village of St. Petersburg .
This boy was well dressed , too -- well dressed on a week-day .
This was simply as astounding .
His cap was a dainty thing , his close-buttoned blue cloth roundabout was new and natty , and so were his pantaloons .
He had shoes on -- and it was only Friday .
He even wore a necktie , a bright bit of ribbon .
He had a citified air about him that ate into Tom 's vitals .
The more Tom stared at the splendid marvel , the higher he turned up his nose at his finery and the shabbier and shabbier his own outfit seemed to him to grow .
Neither boy spoke .
If one moved , the other moved -- but only sidewise , in a circle ; they kept face to face and eye to eye all the time .
Finally Tom said : “ I can lick you ! ”
“ I 'd like to see you try it . ”
“ Well , I can do it . ”