The Clockwork Twin by Walter R. Brooks Page A

to pay the doctor, especially as he said the boy oughtn’t to do any work for a while. They tried to make Bertram do some more hoeing that afternoon, but he just refused and went off and took a walk. The next day was about the same, and in the afternoon Dr. Murdock came and wound Bertram up. And that evening Adoniram’s uncle and aunt came down to the barn.
    They came very quietly, an hour after Bertram had gone to bed, but Ronald heard them coming. Roosters have small ears, but they don’t miss much. Bertram was standing by the window again, but Ronald had him lie down quickly, and Bertram’s adjustable eyelids clicked shut. And when Adoniram’s aunt bent over to look at him, Ronald made sleeping sounds.
    â€œPsst!” said Adoniram’s aunt, and Adoniram’s uncle rushed in with a lantern and a clothes-line and quickly tied Bertram’s arms tight to his sides while his wife knotted a towel over his mouth so he couldn’t yell.
    â€œAnd now,” said Adoniram’s uncle, reaching for the whip, “get up on your feet, Adoniram. I’ve spanked you with hands and hairbrushes and basting spoons and I’ve licked you with shingles and carriage whips and dust mops and I’ve whaled you with straps and broom handles and yardsticks and old pieces of pipe. But after all that, you’re just the same stubborn, good-for-nothing, lazy lummox you always were. So I’m going to give you the most everlasting high-powered father and mother of a lambasting you ever had in your life. And then I guess you’ll do as you’re told. Take off your coat.”
    Now Bertram couldn’t take his coat off when his hands were tied, and anyway Ronald knew that if he did, a lot of machinery would be visible. While he got Bertram to his feet he was wondering what to do. “I guess,” he said to himself, “that now is the time to take the doctor’s advice and be kind of unpleasant.” So as Adoniram’s uncle swung the whip back, Bertram just raised his arms, and the clothes line snapped like string and dropped to the floor.
    â€œLook out!” yelled Adoniram’s aunt, and ran for the door. Her husband dashed after her, and before Bertram could follow they had slammed the heavy barn door shut and wedged it tight with a piece of timber.
    â€œThere,” shouted Adoniram’s uncle, “now we’ll see who’s master around here. You’ll stay there until you’re ready to do as you’re told.” And they both laughed nastily.
    But Bertram walked up to the door and drew back his fists and punched—right, left, right, left—and each time a fist went splintering right through the planks. When they were pretty well weakened, he put his shoulder against them and pushed, and then he was out in the open, walking slowly along after his two persecutors, who were scuttling off toward the house.
    The front door was locked when he got to the house, but he just walked into it and it went down—bang! He heard a squeal of fright, and footsteps racing up the stairs. He followed them. Everything was quiet on the second floor. But all the doors were open except the one to the attic stairs. He kicked that down and went up the stairs—clump, clump, clump. And there, cowering behind a trunk, he found them.
    He reached out one hand and caught Adoniram’s uncle by the collar and pulled him out. Adoniram’s uncle struggled and hit out, but he only hit Bertram on the nose and bruised his knuckles. He didn’t even chip the paint. And Bertram caught him by the waist and swung him up and hung him by the coat collar on a big hook that was screwed into one of the rafters.
    â€œLet me down,” roared Adoniram’s uncle. “I was only whipping you for your own good, Adoniram. It hurt me worse than it did you.”
    â€œI guess it did, at that,” said Bertram.
    â€œOh, don’t hurt him,” begged Adoniram’s aunt.