“The teacher, who had been tinkering all this time at his machine, now rushed up with coat-tails flying.
“‘Now! Now! Now!’ he cried.
“He was, you must know, an old man for whom we had not exactly a great respect.
“The two were so interlocked that they did not break away, even though the professor was standing directly in front of them.
“‘What disgraceful conduct!’ cried the professor. ‘What disgraceful conduct! Will you separate at once!’
“Long K made a face as if he were about to cry.
“‘L No. II began it,’ he said, ‘though I did nothing at all to provoke him.’
“Little L stood straight up in his place—for we always had to stand when a professor spoke to us—big drops of perspiration coursed slowly down either cheek; he said not a word; he had bitten his teeth together so hard that one could see the muscles of his jaw through the thin cheeks. And as he heard what Long K said a smile passed over his face—I have never seen anything like it.
“The old professor expatiated at some length in beautiful set phrases over such disgraceful behavior, spoke of the ‘utter depths of abysmal bestiality, which such conduct betrayed’—we let him talk on; our thoughts were with Little L and Long K.
“And scarcely was the lesson at an end and the professor out of the door, when from the back a book came flying through the air the whole length of the class straight at the skull of Long K. And as he turned angrily toward the aggressor, from the other side he received another book on his head, and now there broke out a general howling: ‘Knock him down! Knock him down!’ The whole class sprang up over tables and benches and there was a rush for Long K, whose hide was now so thoroughly tanned that it fairly smoked.”