HUNG



CHAPTER XVII RETIRING FROM THE SHOW-BUSINESS

Megaphones were constructed out of heavy wrapping-paper, and Penrod,
Sam, and Herman set out in different directions, delivering vocally
the inflammatory proclamation of the poster to a large section of the
residential quarter, and leaving Roderick Magsworth Bitts, Junior, with
Verman in the loft, shielded from all deadhead eyes. Upon the return
of the heralds, the Schofield and Williams Military Band played
deafeningly, and an awakened public once more thronged to fill the
coffers of the firm.

Prosperity smiled again. The very first audience after the acquisition
of Roderick was larger than the largest of the morning. Master
Bitts--the only exhibit placed upon a box--was a supercurio. All eyes
fastened upon him and remained, hungrily feasting, throughout Penrod's
luminous oration.

But the glory of one light must ever be the dimming of another. We dwell
in a vale of seesaws--and cobwebs spin fastest upon laurel. Verman, the
tattooed wild boy, speaking only in his native foreign languages, Verman
the gay, Verman the caperer, capered no more; he chuckled no more, he
beckoned no more, nor tapped his chest, nor wreathed his idolatrous face
in smiles. Gone, all gone, were his little artifices for attracting the
general attention to himself; gone was every engaging mannerism which
had endeared him to the mercurial public. He squatted against the wall
and glowered at the new sensation. It was the old story--the old,