There were a lot of misses after that. There was a great deal of fun, too, for some comical errors were made. One boy spelled knock “noq.” Another made “kwal” out of quail, and a pert little girl lisped out “sqwirm” when Miss Smith gave out the word “worm.”
When the contest was over, Tom, two of Jed’s closest chums, and Bob received high marks. Tom was older than most of those in the class, and it was not wondered at that he did so well. Bob was always at the head of his class. The great surprise was that the friends of Jed, who like him were put down as very backward scholars, got high marks.
Bob noticed that after the spelling was over Miss Williams went all through the papers in her desk. She acted quite thoughtful and serious. After the dinner hour, just before school commenced that afternoon, a little girl came out to the playground and spoke to him.
“Miss Williams wants to see you, Bob Bouncer,” she said.
“I wonder what for?” spoke Bob.
He found Miss Williams alone in the schoolroom.
“Close the door, Bob,” she said, as he entered. “Sit down,” she added, as he obeyed her and came up to the desk.
The school teacher looked very serious. Bob wondered what it all meant. He sat waiting for her to speak to him.
“Bob,” said Miss Williams, after quite a pause, “you did very well in your spelling to-day.”