Page:Stringer - Lonely O'Malley.djvu/170

 frowsled hair, where he was not only made to gather up the scattered loaves of bread, but was ordered to purloin from the parental counter a generous slice of Bologna sausage, which Lonely consumed placidly and with much zest, as he made his rounds.

In fact, it must be confessed that Piggie through this incident became the victim of continuous and ever-increasing extortion, at the hands of Lonely and Lionel Clarence alike, until Mr. Sampson, looking into the matter of his son's too frequently occurring dietetic disturbances, wrung from the culprit a complete confession, and later had a serious talk with Butcher Brennan on the matter.

And in this ironically and secretly ignominious way the King of Cowansburg came into his own once more, from that day on being reckoned, either openly or tacitly, as the leader of the town gang.