For the most part Peter stuck by Doobman; having learned by bitter
experience that in the long run it pays to be honest. Doobman was
referred to by the other attendants as the "Old Man"; and always in
Peter's life, from the very dawn of childhood, there had been some
such "Old Man," the fountain-head of authority, the dispenser of
creature comforts. First had been "Old Man" Drubb, who from early
morning until late at night wore green spectacles, and a sign across
his chest, "I am blind," and made a weary little child lead him thru
the streets by the hand. At night, when they got home to their
garret-room, "Old Man" Drubb would take off his green goggles, and
was perfectly able to see Peter, and if Peter had made the slightest
mistake during the day he would beat him.
When Drubb was arrested, Peter was taken to the orphan asylum, and
there was another "Old Man," and the same harsh lesson of
subservience to be learned. Peter had run away from the asylum; and
then had come Pericles Priam with his Pain Paralyzer, and Peter had
studied his whims and served his interests. When Pericles had
married a rich widow and she had kicked Peter out, there had come
the Temple of Jimjambo, where the "Old Man" had been Tushbar
Akrogas, the major-domo--terrible when he was thwarted, but a
generous dispenser of favors when once you had learned to flatter
him, to play upon his weaknesses, to smooth the path of his
pleasures.
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