nd set out for school, trotting swiftly in spite
of their fatigue.

What would the master say? Pewee said he didn't care,--it wasn't Old
Ball, and they wouldn't get a whipping, anyway. But Jack thought that it
was too bad to lose the confidence of Mr. Williams.

CHAPTER XXIII

CALLED TO ACCOUNT

Successful hounds, having caught their fox, ought to have come home in
triumph; but, instead of that, they came home like dogs that had been
killing sheep, their heads hanging down in a guilty and self-betraying
way.

Jack walked into the school-house first. It was an hour and a half past
the time for the beginning of school. He tried to look unconcerned as he
went to his seat. There stood the teacher, with his face very calm but
very pale, and Jack felt his heart sink.

One by one the laggards filed into the school-room, while the
awe-stricken girls on the opposite benches, and the little A B C boys,
watched the guilty sinners take their places, prepared to meet their
fate.

Riley came in with a half-insolent smile on his face, as if to say: "I
don't care." Pewee was sullen and bull-doggish. Ben Berry looked the
sneaking fellow he was, and Harry Weathervane tried to remember that his
father was a school-trustee. Bob Holliday couldn't help laughing in a
foolish way. Columbus had fallen out of the race before he got to the
"brick-pond," and so had returned in time to be punctual when school
resumed its session.

During all the time that the boys, heated with their exercise and
blushing with shame, were filing in, Mr. Williams stood with set face
and regarded them. He was very much excited, and so I suppose did not
dare to reprove them just then. He called the classes and heard them in
rapid succession, until it was time for the spelling-class, which
comprised all but the very youngest pupils. On this day, instead of
calling the spelling-class, he said, evidently with great effort to
control himself: "The girls will keep their seats. The boys will take
their places in the spelling-class."

Riley's lower jaw fell--he was sure that the master meant to flog them
all. He was glad he was not at the head of the class. Ben Berry could
hardly drag his feet to his place, and poor Jack was filled with
confusion. When the boys were all in place, the master walked up and
down the line and scrutinized them, while Riley cast furtive glances at
the dusty old beech switches on the wall, wondering which one the master
would us