No, Percy Driscoll was the person. He told Chambers that under no
provocation whatever was he privileged to lift his hand against his
little master. Chambers overstepped the line three times, and got
three such convincing canings from the man who was his father and
didn’t know it, that he took Tom’s cruelties in all humility after that,
and made no more experiments.
Outside the house the two boys were together all through
their boyhood. Chambers was strong beyond his years, and a good fighter;
strong because he was coarsely fed and hard worked about the house,
and a good fighter because Tom furnished him plenty of practice–
on white boys whom he hated and was afraid of. Chambers was his
constant bodyguard, to and from school; he was present on the
playground at recess to protect his charge. He fought himself into
such a formidable reputation, by and by, that Tom could have changed
clothes with him, and “ridden in peace,” like Sir Kay in Launcelot’s armor.
He was good at games of skill, too. Tom staked him with marbles to
play “keeps” with, and then took all the winnings away from him.
In the winter season Chambers was on hand, in Tom’s worn-out clothes,
with “holy” red mittens, and “holy” shoes, and pants “holy” at the
knees and seat, to drag a sled up the hill for Tom, warmly clad,
to ride down on; but he never got a ride himself. He built snowmen
and snow fortifications under Tom’s directions. He was Tom’s patient
target when Tom wanted to do some snowballing, but the target couldn’t
fire back. Chambers carried Tom’s skates to the river and strapped
them on him, the trotted around after him on the ice, so as to be on
hand when he wanted; but he wasn’t ever asked to try the skates himself.
In summer the pet pastime of the boys of Dawson’s Landing was to
steal apples, peaches, and melons from the farmer’s fruit wagons–
mainly on account of the risk they ran of getting their heads laid
open with the butt of the farmer’s whip. Tom was a distinguished adept
at these thefts–by proxy. Chambers did his stealing, and got the
peach stones, apple cores, and melon rinds for his share.
Tom always made Chambers go in swimming with him, and stay by him as
a protection. When Tom had had enough, he would slip out and tie knots
in Chamber’s shirt, dip the knots in the water and make them hard to undo,
then dress himself and sit by and laugh while the naked shiverer tugged
at the stubborn knots with his teeth.
Tom did his humble comrade these various ill turns partly out of
native viciousness, and partly because he hated him for his
superiorities of physique and pluck, and for his manifold cleverness.
Tom couldn’t dive, for it gave him splitting headaches.
Chambers could dive without inconvenience, and was fond of doing it.
He excited so much admiration, one day, among a crowd of white boys,
by throwing back somersaults from the stern of a canoe, that it wearies
Tom’s spirit, and at last he shoved the canoe underneath Chambers while
he was in the air–so he came down on his head in the canoe bottom;
and while he lay unconscious, several of Tom’s ancient adversaries saw
that their long-desired opportunity was come, and they gave the false heir
such a drubbing that with Chamber’s best help he was hardly able to drag
himself home afterward.
When the boys was fifteen and upward, Tom was “showing off” in the river
one day, when he was taken with a cramp, and shouted for help.
It was a common trick with the boys–particularly if a stranger
was present–to pretend a cramp and howl for help; then when the
stranger came tearing hand over hand to the rescue, the howler would
go on struggling and howling till he was close at hand, then replace
the howl with a sarcastic smile and swim blandly away, while the
town boys assailed the dupe with a volley of jeers and laughter.
Tom had never tried this joke as yet, but was supposed to be trying
it now, so the boys held warily back; but Chambers believed his master