“I’m as strong as you are,” growled Peter.
“You may be, but you don’t know how to use your strength. Suppose we stop here, and forget all that has happened. I shall bear you no grudge, and shall only expect the same of you that I do from the other scholars.”
“That’s fair, Peter,” said half a dozen boys from their seats.
Peter did not answer, but on the other hand he did not offer to renew the contest. He rose and walked quietly to his desk, and seated himself, with his opinions of the “master’s” prowess decidedly revolutionized. Walter walked back to the teacher’s desk, and quietly called the next class. He might have felt a little excited by the conflict in which he had just been engaged, but, if so, he did not betray it in his manner. He was very glad that the ordeal was over, and that his efforts were crowned with success. He had known boys like Peter before, and he felt confident that he should have no more trouble with him. He made up his mind neither by look nor word to remind Peter of his defeat, but to do all he could to spare him humiliation. He wanted, if possible, to convert him from an enemy to a friend.
CHAPTER XXVII
REFORMATION.
The result of his conflict with the new teacher mortified Peter not a little. Had it been a close contest he would not have minded it so much, but the advantage was all on Walter’s side from the first, and, what was worse, all the scholars could see it. Peter had been tripped up by Phineas Morton, as we know, but the difference in size was such that it was no mortification. Now he recalled his boasts that he could “lick the master,” with some shame, since it had turned out that he was no match for him.
When school was over, Peter slipped off alone, not caring for the company of his school companions. He was afraid they would twit him with his defeat. Defeat is a test of friendship, and even John Wall, since the ignominious failure of Peter, was disposed to be less intimate with him. He had been drawn toward him by the hope that he could successfully rebel against Walter’s authority. John was no less anxious for the new teacher’s failure, but he saw that Peter was not the one to bring it about.
The next day Peter was walking slowly along to school, not quite decided whether he would not play truant, when he heard himself called by name. Looking around, he recognized the last one he wished to meet--the teacher.
“He wants to crow over me,” he thought, hastily.