Tortilla Flat Chapter 15: How Danny brooded and became mad. How the devil in the shape of Torrelli assaulted Danny's House. Summary

  • Danny starts to get restless because he and his friends have settled into a routine. He misses the days when he used to sleep outside and just feel free.
  • One night, Danny disappears into the woods. After a week, his friends start to worry about him. They form a search party but can't find a trace of their pal.
  • When they come home, they find that the house has been ransacked. They realize that it was Danny himself who did it, and they start looking for him all over, every day.
  • The friends decide to wait at Torrelli's because Danny will be sure to show up there sometime. Torrelli, though, says that he was already there, that he had seduced his wife, and that he had stolen a hammock.
  • In the night, someone breaks in, and the friends know that it's Danny. When they try to stop him, he throws a rock and hits Big Joe in the stomach. The house is almost empty after Danny's raids, and the friends are sad.
  • Rumors start to fly about Danny's escapades, and the friends decide that it's time to capture him.
  • Danny gets put in jail, but he escapes after he and Tito Ralph, the jailer, get hammered together.
  • One day, Torrelli shows up at the door smiling: he's holding a piece of paper that says Danny sold him his house for $25. The friends burn the piece of paper and claim that they never saw it, kind of taking the wind out of Torrelli's sails.
  • Finally, Danny comes home, carrying some wine and fruit jars, and the friends tell him that they burned Torrelli's piece of paper.
  • The friends are so happy that Danny is home that they can barely contain themselves.