You look at that particular boy with
astonishment afterward, and expect to see him some day burst into
bleeding from the nose and ears, and flood the schoolroom benches.
In time however you get to performing some modest experiments yourself
upon the very lowest limbs, taking care to avoid the observation of the
larger boys, who else might laugh at you; you especially avoid the
notice of one stout fellow in pea-green breeches, who is a sort of
"bully" among the small boys, and who delights in kicking your marbles
about very accidentally. He has a fashion too of twisting his
handkerchief into what he calls a "snapper," with a knot at the end, and
cracking at you with it, very much to the irritation of your spirits and
of your legs.
Sometimes, when he has brought you to an angry burst of tears, he will
very graciously force upon you the handkerchief, and insist upon your
cracking him in return; which, as you know nothing about his effective
method of making the knot bite, is a very harmless proposal on his part.
But you have still stronger reason to remember that boy. There are
trees, as I said, near the school; and you get the reputation, after a
time, of a good climber.
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