‘Do you hear me, Joel Ham?’ Mrs. Ben Steven beat heavily on the desk with the palm of her large hand.  ‘I’ll whack him myself.’

‘Certainly, ma’am, certainly—­if you can catch him.’

Dick accepted this as a kindly hint and dived under a couple of desks as Mrs. Steven rushed his place.  The chase was obviously useless from the first; the woman had not a possible chance of catching Dick amongst the forms, but she tried while her breath lasted, rushing in and out amongst the classes, knocking a child over here and there, boxing the ears of others when they got in her way, and creating confusion and unbounded delight everywhere.  The children were overjoyed, but Gable was much concerned for Dick, and stood up in his place ejaculating ’Crickey!’in a loud voice and following the hunt with frightened eyes.

Meanwhile Joel Ham, B.A., sat at his desk, contemplating the roof with profound interest, and taking a casual mechanical pull at his bottle.  Joel was in a peculiar position:  he was selected by the people of Waddy and paid by them, and had to defer to their wishes to some extent; and, besides, Mrs. Ben Steven was a large, powerful, indignant woman, and he a small, slim man.

Mrs. Steven stood in front of the classes until she had recovered sufficient breath to start a fierce tirade; then, one hand on her hip and the other out-thrown, she thundered abuse at Richard Haddon and all his belongings.  The master bore this for two or three minutes; then he slid from his stool, seized his longest cane, and thrashing the desk—­his usual demand for order—­he faced Mrs. Ben and, pointing to the door, cried: 

‘Out!’

The woman backed away a step and regarded him with some amazement.  He was not a bit like the everyday Joel Ham, but quite imperious and fierce.

‘Out!’ he said, and the long cane whistled threateningly around and over her.

She backed away a few steps more; Joel followed her up, cutting all around her with the lightning play of an expert swordsman, just missing by the fraction of an inch, and showing a face that quite subdued the virago.  Mrs. Steven backed to the door.

‘Out!’ thundered Ham, and she fled, banging the door between her and the dangerous cane.

‘Oh crickey!’ cried Gable in a high squeak that set the whole school laughing boisterously.

Mrs. Ben Steven reappeared at one of the windows, and threatened terrible things for Ham when her Ben returned; but Joel was consoling himself with his bottle again and was not in the least disturbed, and a minute later the school was plunged in a studious silence.

Peterson and Cann called late in the afternoon, as representatives of the School Committee.

’We’ve come fer your permission to ask some questions of the boy Haddon, Mr. Ham, sir,’ said Peterson.

Joel received a great show of respect from most of the men of Waddy in consideration of his position and scholarship.