"Martain Rattler" - читать интересную книгу автора (Ballantyne R.M)

observed that his fore finger was covered with soot. Immediately a smile of glee
overspread his features, and while the master was busy with one of the boys he
drew his black finger gently down the forehead and nose of the boy next to him.
"What part of the earth was peopled by the descendants of Ham?" cried the
master, pointing to the dux.
"Shem," shrieked a small boy near the foot of the class.
"Silence! " thundered the master, with a frown that caused the small boy to
quake down to the points of his toes.
"Asia," answered dux.
"Next ?"
"Turkey."
"Next, next, next? Hallo ! John Ward," cried the master, starting up in anger
from his seat, " what do you mean by that, sir?"
"What, sir?" said John Ward tremulously, while a suppressed titter ran round the
class,.
"Your face, sir! Who blacked your face, eh?"
"I-I--don't know," said the boy, drawing his sleeve across his face which had
the effect of covering it with sooty streaks.
An uncontrollable shout of laughter burst from the whole school, which was
instantly followed by a silence so awful and profound that a pin might have been
heard to fall.
"Martin Rattler, you did that! I know you did; I see the marks on your fingers.
Come here, sir! Now tell me, did you do it ?"
Martin Rattler never told falsehoods. His old aunt had laboured to impress upon
him from infancy that to lie was to commit a sin which is abhorred by God and
scorned by man, and her teaching had not been in vain. The child would have
suffered any punishment rather than have told a deliberate lie. He looked
straight in the master's face and said, " Yes, sir, I did it."
"Very well, go to your seat, and remain in school during the play-hour."
With a heavy heart Martin obeyed, and soon after the school was dismissed.
"I say, Rattler," whispered Bob Croaker as he passed, "I'm going to teach your
white kitten to swim just now. Won't you come and see it?"
The malicious laugh with which the boy accompanied this remark convinced Martin
that he intended to put his threat in execution. For a moment he thought of
rushing out after him to protect his pet kitten; but a glance at the stern brow
of the master, as he sat at his desk reading, restrained him, so, crushing down
his feelings of mingled fear and anger, he endeavoured to while away the time by
watching the boys as they played in the fields before the windows of the school.
[CONTENTS]



CHAPTER III
The great fight
MARTIN! "said the schoolmaster, in a severe tone, looking up from the book with
which he was engaged, "don't look out at the window, sir; turn your back to it."
"Please, sir, I can't help it," replied the boy, trembling with eagerness as he
stared across the fields.
"Turn your back on it, I say! " reiterated the master in a loud tone, at the
same time striking the desk violently with his cane.