It was very quietly and swiftly done, and no one in the school saw the
beginning, because they were watching Bug and the teacher; but somehow
an instant after Bug had declined to obey he was taken by the nape of
his neck and the seat of his trousers, and deposited on the required
stool, while Daniel Butterworth was making his way back to his seat,
with a look of unconcern upon his face. Bug was too astonished and too
much afraid of Daniel to make a sound or move a muscle.
Dawn looked at the long, lank boy as he sprawled back into his seat and
raised his curly eyelashes, to see how she would take his action, and
there flashed into her eyes a kindling of surprise, gratitude, and
understanding. The school sat in mild dismay. The fun had vanished,
and before their halting eyes stretched a monotonous vista of
uninteresting school days. For they saw plainly that the leader had
gone over to the enemy, and they must surrender.
At intervals during the day some boy would attempt to bring about
another insurrection, but he would be promptly silenced by Daniel, who
every time received as reward a look of gratitude from Dawn’s expressive
eyes; and every time the beautiful glance gave him a new thrill of
pleasure. He sat docile as a lamb and let her make him study, a thing
he had never done before in his whole life. Now and then he raised his
eyes, dumb, submissive, and met hers, and the shock of a great
revolution reverberated through his nature. He did not know what it
meant; he did not know why he was enjoying the morning so keenly; but he
entered into the new state of things as in a dream of bliss.
At recess time the boys who had always followed his lead in everything
began to jeer at him about the way he had given in to a girl and let her
whip him. He did not turn red nor look embarrassed. He promptly
settled the boldest of them with a few blows from his loosely hung arms,
and the others considered it wise to desist. It was plain that the
former bully of the school had fallen in the new teacher’s snare, and as
it was well known to be unsafe to arouse his fiery temper, the other
boys had no choice but to follow in his lead.
"If you fellers say a word about her"—he nodded toward the
school-house—"I’ll lick every last one of yeh, an’ I mean it, too!" he
threatened, and then he walked away and sat down under the big elm to
whittle. He always sat down to whittle after he had presented an
ultimatum to the other boys.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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