"I don't care if he did," was the uncompromising reply. "Stand up and hold up your coat." This Jarnley had no alternative but to do, and as Mr Clay did nothing by halves the patient was soon dancing on one foot at a time. "No, no, I haven't done yet," said the master, in response to a muttered and spasmodic appeal for quarter. "I'll teach you to make a disturbance in schooltime when I'm in charge. There! Stand still." And he laid it on--to the bitter end; and with such muscle and will that the bully could not repress one or two short howls as he received the final strokes. But the Zulu boy, whose turn now came, and who received the same unsparing allowance, took it without movement or sound. "Go back to your seats, you two," commanded Mr Clay. "If any one else wants a dose of the same medicine, he knows how to get it," he added grimly, locking up the cane again. "Oh, wait till I get you outside, you black beast," whispered the bully as they got back to their seats. "I'll only skin you alive--that's what I'll do." "Come out again, Jarnley," rang out Mr Clay's clear, sharp voice. "Were you talking?" he queried, as the bully stood before him, having gone very pale over the prospect of a repetition of what he had just undergone. "Yes, sir," he faltered, simply not daring to lie. "I know you were," and again quickly the cane was drawn forth from its accustomed dwelling place. Then, as Jarnley was beginning to whine for mercy, the master as quickly replaced it. "I'll try another plan this time," he said. "There's nothing like variety." The room grinned--"You'll do seven hundred and fifty lines for talking in school hours, and you're gated till they're done." The room was disappointed, for it was looking forward to another execution, moreover the bulk of it hated Jarnley. It consoled itself, however, by looking forward to something else, viz.: what was going to happen after school, and the smaller boys did not in the least envy Anthony. The latter, for his part, knew what a thrashing was in store for him should he fail to make good his escape; wherefore the moment the word to dismiss was uttered, he affected a strategic movement which should enable him to gain the door under convoy of the retiring master, while not seeming to do so by design. Even in this he would hardly have succeeded, but that a simultaneous rush for the door interposed a crowd between him and his pursuers, and again his luck was in the ascendant, and he escaped, leaving Jarnley and Co. to wreak their vengeance on some of the smaller boys for getting in their way.