“Think I’m going to be nagged every day in the week and never do a thing about it?” growled Tim. “Maybe when she finds her precious book marked up she’ll begin to understand that there’s some one who won’t stand for everything.” 75
“How’s she going to know you did it?” asked Charlie Black, watching the ink seep into a fine illustration as Tim slowly poured more out.
“She won’t know if I can help it,” grinned that bad boy. “And if I catch you opening your mouth–––”
“I won’t,” promised Charlie hastily. “Honest, I won’t say a word, Tim.”
“You’d better not,” warned Tim darkly. “Let me ever find out you as much as whispered you saw me and I’ll, I’ll––I don’t know what I won’t do to you!”
This vague threat was sufficiently terrifying to insure obedience from Charlie, who knew from experience that Tim could be both relentless and cruel. There was little danger that he would ever betray his chum.
“Now I guess that’s finished,” announced Tim with satisfaction, closing the once lovely book. “Don’t look at me when she takes it out after recess to show the class. Wait till I put back these papers where they were. There now, let’s go downstairs and come up with the others when the bell rings.” 76
When the bell rang and the children came upstairs, they found a member of the school committee sitting on the platform beside Miss Mason’s desk, and the teacher announced that they would have a reading lesson for the first and second grades in place of the usual work.
“I will show you the book I promised to let the second grade see, directly after the noon period,” said Miss Mason. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be here this recess, but we had an important conference. Now, Margaret, you may read the first paragraph of the third lesson.”
Rufus Hornbeck was the name of the committeeman, and all the children who had been to school before knew him as the head of the school committee and a man who could, if he wished, scold even Mr. Carter, the primary and grammar school principal. Some of the boys said that “old Hornbeck,” as they disrespectfully called him, had the right to tell Mr. Fredericks, the high-school principal, what to do. But the high-school was too far away for the majority of the boys to think about.