He was twelve years of age, the picture of rosy1 health, good nature, bounding spirits and mental strength. He was bright and well advanced in his studies, and as is generally the case with such vigorous youngsters he was fond of fun, which too often, perhaps, passed the line of propriety2 and became mischief3.
On the Monday morning after the fight, which Fred Sheldon interrupted, some ten or twelve boys stopped on their way to the Tottenville Public School to admire in open-mouthed wonder, the gorgeous pictures pasted on a huge framework of boards, put up for the sole purpose of making such a display.
These flaming posters were devoted4 to setting forth5 the unparalleled attractions of Bandman's great menagerie and circus, which was announced to appear in the well-known "Hart's Half-Acre," near the village of Tottenville.
These scenes, in which elephants, tigers, leopards6, camels, sacred cows, and indeed an almost endless array of animals were shown on a scale that indicated they were as high as a meeting-house, in which the serpents,[Pg 10] it unwound from the trees where they were crushing men and beasts to death, would have stretched across "Hart's Half-Acre" (which really contained several acres), those frightful7 encounters, in which a man, single-handed, was seen to be spreading death and destruction with a clubbed gun among the fierce denizens8 of the forest; all these had been displayed on the side of barns and covered bridges, at the cross-roads, and indeed in every possible available space for the past three weeks; and, as the date of the great show was the one succeeding that of which we are speaking, it can be understood that the little village of Tottenville and the surrounding country were in a state of excitement such as had not been known since the advent10 of the preceding circus.
Regularly every day the school children had stopped in front of the huge bill-board and studied and admired and talked over the great show, while those who expected to go in the afternoon or evening looked down in pity on their less fortunate playmates.
The interest seemed to intensify11 as the day approached, and, now that it was so close at hand, the little group found it hard to tear themselves away from the fascinating scenes before them.
Down in one corner of the board was the picture of a hyena12 desecrating13 a cemetery14, as it is well known those animals are fond of doing. This bad creature, naturally enough, became very distasteful to the boys, who showed their ill-will in many ways.
Several almost ruined their new shoes by kicking him, while others had pelted15 him with stones, and still others,[Pg 11] in face of the warning printed in big letters, had haggled16 him dreadfully with their jack-knives.
It was a warm summer morning and most of the boys not only were bare-footed, but had their trousers rolled above their knees, and, generally, were without coat or vest.
"To-morrow afternoon the show will be here," said Sammy McClay, smacking17 his lips and shaking his head as though he tasted a luscious18 morsel19, "and I'm going."
"How are you going," asked Joe Hunt, sarcastically20, "when your father said he wouldn't give you the money?"
"Never you mind," was the answer, with another significant shake of the head. "I'm goin'—that's all."
"Goin' to try and crawl under the tent. I know. But you can't do it. You'll get a whack21 from the whip of the man that's watching that you'll feel for six weeks. Don't I know—'cause, didn't I try it?"
"I wouldn't be such a dunce as you; you got half way under the tent and then stuck fast, so you couldn't go backward or forward, and you begun to yell so you like to broke up the performance, and when the man come along why he had the best chance in the world to cowhide you, and he did it. I think I know a little better than that."
At this moment, Mr. Abijah McCurtis, the school teacher in the little stone school-house a hundred yards away, solemnly lifted his spectacles from his nose to his forehead, and grasping the handle of his large cracked bell walked to the door and swayed it vigorously for a minute or so.
[Pg 12]
This was the regular summons for the boys and girls to enter school, and he had sent forth the unmusical clangor, summer and winter, for a full two-score years.
Having called the pupils together, the pedagogue22 sat down, drew his spectacles back astride of his nose, and resumed setting copies in the books which had been laid on his desk the day before.
In a minute or so the boys and girls came straggling in, but the experienced eye of the teacher saw that several were missing.
Looking through the open door he discovered where the four delinquent23 urchins24 were; they were still standing25 in front of the great showy placards, studying the enchanting26 pictures, as they had done so many times before.
They were all talking earnestly, Sammy McClay, Joe Hunt, Jimmy Emery and Fred Sheldon, and they had failed for the first time in their lives to hear the cracked bell.
Most teachers, we are bound to believe, would have called the boys a second time or sent another lad to notify them, but the present chance was one of those which, unfortunately, the old-time pedagogue was glad to have, and Mr. McCurtis seized it with pleasure.
Rising from his seat, he picked up from where it lay across his desk a long, thin switch, and started toward the four barefooted lads, who were admiring the circus pictures.
Nothing could have been more inviting27, for, not only were they barefooted, but each had his trousers rolled to[Pg 13] the knee, and Fred Sheldon had drawn28 and squeezed his so far that they could go no further. His plump, clean legs offered the most inviting temptation to the teacher, who was one of those sour old pedagogues29, of the long ago, who delighted in seeing children tortured under the guise30 of so-called discipline.
"I don't believe in wearing trousers in warm weather," said Fred, when anybody looked wonderingly to see whether he really had such useful garments on, "and that's why I roll mine so high up. Don't you see I'm ready to run into the water, and——"
"How about going through the bushes and briars?" asked Joe Hunt.
"I don't go through 'em," was the crushing answer. "I feel so supple31 and limber that I just jump right over the top. I tell you, boys, that you ought to see me jump——"
Fred's wish was gratified, for at that moment he gave such an exhibition of jumping as none of his companions had ever seen before. With a shout he sprang high in air, kicking out his bare legs in a frantic32 way, and ran with might and main for the school-house.
The other three lads did pretty much the same, for the appearance of the teacher among them was made known by the whizzing hiss33 of his long, slender switch, which first landed on Fred's legs, and was then quickly transferred to the lower limbs of the other boys, the little company immediately heading for the school house, with Fred Sheldon at the front.
Each one shouted, and made a high and frantic leap[Pg 14] every few steps, believing that the teacher was close behind him with upraised stick, and looking for the chance to bring it down with effect.
"I'll teach you not to stand gaping34 at those pictures," shouted Mr. McCurtis, striding wrathfully after them.
A man three-score years old cannot be expected to be as active as a boy with one-fifth as many years; but the teacher had the advantage of being very tall and quite attenuated35, and for a short distance he could outrun any of his pupils.
The plump, shapely legs of Fred Sheldon, twinkling and doubling under him as he ran, seemed to be irresistibly36 tempting37 to Mr. McCurtis, who, with upraised switch, dashed for him like a thunder-gust, paying no attention to the others, who ducked aside as he passed.
"It's your fault, you young scapegrace," called out the pursuer, as he rapidly overhauled38 him; "you haven't been thinking of anything else but circuses for the past month and I mean to whip it out of you—good gracious sakes!"
Fred Sheldon had seen how rapidly the teacher was gaining, and finding there was no escape, resorted to the common trick among boys of suddenly falling flat on his face while running at full speed.
The cruel-hearted teacher at that very moment made a savage39 stroke, intending to raise a ridge9 on the flesh of the lad, who escaped it by a hair's breadth, as may be said.
The spiteful blow spent itself in vacancy40, and the momentum41 spun42 Mr. McCurtis around on one foot, so that[Pg 15] he faced the other way. At that instant his heels struck the prostrate43 form of the crouching44 boy, and he went over, landing upon his back, his legs pointing upward, like a pair of huge dividers.
There is nothing a boy perceives so quickly as a chance for fun, and before the teacher could rise, Sammy McClay also went tumbling over the grinning Fred Sheldon, with such violence, indeed, that he struck the bewildered instructor45 as he was trying to adjust his spectacles to see where he was.
Then came Joe Hunt and Jimmy Emery, and Fred Sheldon capped the climax46 by running at full speed and jumping on the struggling group, spreading out his arms and legs in the effort to bear them down to the earth.
But the difficulty was that Fred was not very heavy nor bony, so that his presence on top caused very little inconvenience, the teacher rising so hurriedly that Fred fell from his shoulders, and landed on his head when he struck the earth.
The latter was dented47, but Fred wasn't hurt at all, and he and his friends scrambled48 hastily into the school-house, where the other children were in an uproar49, fairly dancing with delight at the exhibition, or rather "circus," as some of them called it, which took place before the school-house and without any expense to them.
By the time the discomfited50 teacher had got upon his feet and shaken himself together, the four lads were in school, busily engaged in scratching their legs and studying their lessons.
[Pg 16]
Mr. McCurtis strode in a minute later switch in hand, and in such a grim mood that he could only quiet his nerves by walking around the room and whipping every boy in it.
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1
rosy
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| adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的 | |
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2
propriety
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| n.正当行为；正当；适当 | |
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3
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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4
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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5
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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6
leopards
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| n.豹( leopard的名词复数 )；本性难移 | |
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7
frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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8
denizens
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| n.居民，住户( denizen的名词复数 ) | |
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9
ridge
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| n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭 | |
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10
advent
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| n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临 | |
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11
intensify
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| vt.加强；变强；加剧 | |
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12
hyena
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| n.土狼，鬣狗 | |
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13
desecrating
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| 毁坏或亵渎( desecrate的现在分词 ) | |
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14
cemetery
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| n.坟墓，墓地，坟场 | |
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15
pelted
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| （连续地）投掷( pelt的过去式和过去分词 )； 连续抨击； 攻击； 剥去…的皮 | |
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16
haggled
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| v.讨价还价( haggle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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17
smacking
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| 活泼的，发出响声的，精力充沛的 | |
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18
luscious
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| adj.美味的；芬芳的；肉感的，引与性欲的 | |
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morsel
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| n.一口，一点点 | |
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20
sarcastically
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| adv.挖苦地，讽刺地 | |
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21
whack
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| v.敲击，重打，瓜分；n.重击，重打，尝试，一份 | |
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22
pedagogue
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| n.教师 | |
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23
delinquent
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| adj.犯法的，有过失的；n.违法者 | |
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24
urchins
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| n.顽童( urchin的名词复数 )；淘气鬼；猬；海胆 | |
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25
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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enchanting
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| a.讨人喜欢的 | |
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inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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28
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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29
pedagogues
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| n.教师，卖弄学问的教师( pedagogue的名词复数 ) | |
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30
guise
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| n.外表，伪装的姿态 | |
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31
supple
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| adj.柔软的，易弯的，逢迎的，顺从的，灵活的；vt.使柔软，使柔顺，使顺从；vi.变柔软，变柔顺 | |
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32
frantic
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| adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的 | |
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33
hiss
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| v.发出嘶嘶声；发嘘声表示不满 | |
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34
gaping
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| adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大 | |
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35
attenuated
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| v.（使）变细( attenuate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）变薄；（使）变小；减弱 | |
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36
irresistibly
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| adv.无法抵抗地，不能自持地；极为诱惑人地 | |
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37
tempting
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| a.诱人的, 吸引人的 | |
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38
overhauled
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| v.彻底检查( overhaul的过去式和过去分词 )；大修；赶上；超越 | |
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39
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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40
vacancy
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| n.（旅馆的）空位，空房，（职务的）空缺 | |
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41
momentum
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| n.动力，冲力，势头；动量 | |
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42
spun
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| v.纺，杜撰，急转身 | |
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43
prostrate
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| v.拜倒，平卧，衰竭；adj.拜倒的，平卧的，衰竭的 | |
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44
crouching
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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45
instructor
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| n.指导者，教员，教练 | |
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46
climax
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| n.顶点；高潮；v.(使)达到顶点 | |
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47
dented
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| v.使产生凹痕( dent的过去式和过去分词 )；损害；伤害；挫伤（信心、名誉等） | |
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48
scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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49
uproar
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| n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸 | |
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50
discomfited
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| v.使为难( discomfit的过去式和过去分词)；使狼狈；使挫折；挫败 | |
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