he first class greeted his reappearance in the schoolroom.
Their pleasant experience yesterday had demoralised them, and they
settled down listlessly at Jonah's bidding like voyagers who, after a
day in still waters, put out once more to the rough sea. Teddy
especially felt the hardships of the mighty deep. Jonah's eye
transfixed him all day. If he spoke, if he fidgeted, if he looked
about, the hand of the tyrant swooped down upon him.

He spent the greater part of the day standing on the form. The contents
of his pockets (including some priceless marbles) were impounded; he had
two columns of dates to commit to memory before he could go home; and,
hardest of all, because of a little blot, he was reduced to the
ineffable humiliation of writing all his exercises on a slate!

It took all the big heart of the little fellow to bear up against this
mountain of calamity, and had it not been for an occasional glimpse of
Jeffreys' face, turned sympathetically in his direction, his courage
might have failed him.

School closed, and still his dates were unlearnt. His legs ached with
standing hour after hour on the narrow form, and his head, lifted three
feet higher than usual into the heated atmosphere of the room, swam
ominously.

Freddy, after waiting about dismally for half an hour, had gone home
alone. The voices of boys remaining to play or talk in the yard outside
had one after another ceased. Jeffreys had long since taken himself and
his books elsewhere, and only Jonah was left to keep watch over his
prisoner.

The boy made a tremendous effort to master the dates, but they went
through him like water through a sieve. He could not even keep his eyes
on the book, and when he turned them towards the master's desk, Jonah
seemed to be half hidden in mist. He edged cautiously to the end of the
form nearest the wall, where at least he might get a little support. It
was a perilous voyage, for he was two feet away, and scarcely dare move
at a greater rate than an inch a minute. He got there at last, nearly
done up, and with a sigh of relief leaned his head against the cold
plaster.

"Rosher, stand at the other end of the form immediately, and learn
twenty more dates for being idle."

Alas poor Teddy! He had held out long, and braved much. But his heart
quailed now. He seemed glued to the wall, and the form all of a sudden
seemed to contract into a tight-rope over a chasm.

"I'm so tired, sir, I--"

"Silenc