At this, Sam was able to hold up his head a little and to summon a rather feeble indignation.
"It ain't so," he declared. "We didn't any such thing lower him into the cellar. We weren't goin' NEAR the cellar with him. We never THOUGHT of goin' down cellar. He went down there himself, first."
"So! I suppose he was running away from you, poor thing! Trying to escape from you, wasn't he?"
"He wasn't," Sam said doggedly. "We weren't chasin' him--or anything at all."
"Then why did he go in the cellar?"
"Well, he didn't exactly GO in the cellar," Sam said reluctantly.
"Well, how did he GET in the cellar, then?"
"He--he fell in," said Sam.
"HOW did he fall in?"
"Well, the door was open, and--well, he kept walkin' around there, and we hollered at him to keep away, but just then he kind of--well, the first _I_ noticed was I couldn't SEE him, and so we went and looked down the steps, and he was sitting down there on the bottom step and kind of shouting, and--"
"See here!" Mr. Williams interrupted. "You're going to make a clean breast of this whole affair and take the consequences.
You're going to tell it and tell it ALL. Do you understand that?"
"Yes, sir."
"Then you tell me how Georgie Bassett fell down the cellar steps--and tell me quick!"
"He--he was blindfolded."
"Aha! NOW we're getting at it. You begin at the beginning and tell me just what you did to him from the time he got here.
Understand?"
"Yes, sir."
"Go on, then!"
"Well, I'm goin' to," Sam protested. "We never hurt him at all.
He wasn't even hurt when he fell down cellar. There's a lot of mud down there, because the cellar door leaks, and--"
"Sam!" Mr. Williams's tone was deadly. "Did you hear me tell you to begin at the beginning?"
Sam made a great effort and was able to obey.