"Of course he will!" added several voices.
"Just you mind what you're up to," continued Teal, "or you'll get what you won't like."
"Pass on there! What are you waiting for?" cried Mr. Rowlands, appearing in the doorway of his classroom, and the gathering dispersed.
The following morning, as fate would have it, nearly the same thing happened again, only this time during the hour devoted to algebra.
"Has any one had time to do any of the next set of examples?" asked Mr. Rowlands. "If so, let him hold up his hand."
Only two boys held up their hands—Hollis and Valentine. There were murmurs of discontent at the back of the room, and several fists were shaken ominously.
Jack had not troubled to side with either party—it mattered very little to him whether the lessons were long or short, as he only did as much as he felt inclined—but, if anything, his sympathies lay with his less industrious comrades, who, he considered, had very good ground for feeling aggrieved with Hollis and his cousin.
"Look here, Val," he said, when they met at the close of morning school, "what d'you want to go and work so beastly hard for?"
"I don't."
"No, perhaps you don't, because you're clever; but you're always doing more than you're obliged to, and the other chaps don't like it, because they say it'll make Rowlands set longer pieces."