The Clockwork Twin Read Free Page A

the matter?” the boy asked.
    â€œOh, those—those awful creatures! Why, I’ve seen big dogs before, but never any like that, with horns!”
    â€œWhy, those are nothing but cows,” said Adoniram.
    â€œWell, I don’t care what you call ’em. I just hope there aren’t many of them in this part of the country, that’s all.”
    â€œYou mean to say you’ve never seen a cow before?” asked the boy. “Why, every farm in the country has some. That’s where the milk comes from. There are thousands and thousands of them.”
    â€œOh dear,” said Georgie, “I wish I was back in the city. I always thought the country was nice and safe and peaceful, but if there are a lot of those great, ferocious, horned things around, I guess I’m a gone pup.”
    So Adoniram explained about cows, and by and by Georgie felt better.
    To take their minds off their empty stomachs, Adoniram asked the rooster if he wouldn’t tell them the story of his life. The rooster, whose name was Ronald, was more than willing, like most roosters, to talk about himself, but the story of his life, although he gave it everything he had, didn’t take very long in the telling. It explained one thing, though. That was the funny way he talked. For he was English. He had been sent over to this country as an egg, and had been hatched out on a farm up-river that raised fancy poultry. He had indeed taken several prizes at poultry shows.
    â€œWell, if you came over as an egg,” said Georgie, “I don’t quite see why you have such a strong English accent.”
    â€œMy dear chap!” said Ronald. “After all, I am English, even if I did come over inside a shell and never saw England. And this English accent is useful at the shows. One could hardly win prizes as an English rooster if one hadn’t an English accent. Of course,” he said, dropping the accent all at once, “I was brought up with American chickens, and I can talk American as well as you guys. You’re darn tootin’, I can. How about it, buddy, isn’t that somethin’?”
    â€œSure, that’s American you’re talking now,” said Georgie. “Oh, look; there are some boats.”
    But they had moved out again into the middle of the river, too far from the boats to be noticed.
    As the morning went on they grew hungrier and hungrier and thirstier and thirstier. And then at last the river carried them swiftly round a long curve and they saw before them the closely pressed houses and high towers of a city.
    Almost before they had time to realize it they were surrounded by buildings. But the muddy water was lapping at the second-story windows and it was plain that the buildings were empty. Not a face showed at any window, and, perhaps because the water ran so swiftly, no boats were in sight. The water here, too, was troubled by cross-currents, and the tree whirled and jerked and occasionally bumped heavily, so that the summerhouse swayed and shook and they had to hold on to the railing to keep from being thrown overboard.
    As they got farther into the city the cross-currents got worse. Once an eddy at the corner of a big factory building set them whirling like a merry-go-round for five minutes, and when, released from that, they shot again downstream, a side current caught them and carried them out of the main stream of the river entirely and down a wide street. Here they moved more slowly. It was evidently one of the main shopping streets, for they passed a hotel, and the water splashed muddily against the signs over the doors of shops and stores. And then the tree trunk stopped with a jerk, wedged between a lamp-post and a wall, and the branches swung around and came close up against a large building on which was a big sign: Waterman Dinkelstein & Co.
    The summerhouse was shoved tight up against a window, and Adoniram reached out and tried to open it, but it was