Part 2
The boys had begun to put away the things in nice order, when they heard a loud halloo. They turned to find out from whom it came, and saw four of their school-mates at the door.
"Go away, Edward West, and the rest of you boys," said Thomas Jones.
"No, indeed!" said they; "we are not going quite yet."
"Now, I dare say you want to know how we came here, and what we want," said Edward West, who seemed to be the leader of the party; "and to save you the asking, I'll just tell you. We hid behind the school-house until the master was out of sight, and then we came out to pay you a visit; and you ought to be very glad to see us. Our reason for doing so was to have some fun, of course; and now you have the whole story."
"Well, we'll just tell Mr. Wise, and see what he will have to say about it," said George Evans.
"Oh, we don't mean to do any harm," said Edward. "We only want to have a little play; and you would not tell unless we do wrong. Would you, George?"
"What shall we do about these boys?" asked George aside, speaking in an undertone to Thomas and James.
"I am sure I cannot tell," said James; "for I am afraid they will not go away for us."
"That is what I think," said Thomas; "and we may only get into a quarrel with them, and do no good by it. How would it do for us to tell them they may stay, if they will give us their word of honour not to behave badly?"
"Yes, that is all we can do," said George.
"Well, boys," said Thomas aloud, "I think it would be much better for you to go home; but if you promise to behave, we will not object to your staying here with us, though I am not quite sure that Mr. Wise will like it."
"Well, on the whole, I call that a polite speech," said Edward, "and I give my hand to the bargain."
"Yes; we all agree to behave well," cried the others; and they began to mount the desks, and perform sundry little antics. At first the three boys who had stayed in to work went on doing their duty, as if their wild school-mates were not there at all, except now and then, when they would pause to smile at some of their odd tricks, or speak a few words to them. When they became too rude and noisy, George or Thomas called them to order, by giving them a hint of the bargain which had been made. Very soon they began to argue upon some point that seemed hard to settle, from the loud tones with which they spoke.
"What is the matter?" asked James Black, for he heard his own name used in the debate.
"Why, Hiram says you cannot jump over that stool, and I know you can," said Edward.
James looked at the stool. It was a high one, and stood on a clear space, not far from the desk of Mr. Wise.
"Yes, I can jump over it, and at the first trial too, as I will soon show you," he said; and as he spoke he joined them, with a view to proving the truth of his words.
The boys stood off to leave him room. He gave one high leap quite over the stool; but before his feet gained the floor on the other side, they struck an end of the master's desk, and upset an inkstand over some letters and papers which were highly valued by Mr. Wise. For a moment the boys all stood aghast and silent, gazing on the ruin before them. Edward West spoke first.
"Never mind, James," he said, with a look of pity at poor James, who stood near to him, quite pale with grief and dismay at what he had done. "Never mind; you did not mean to do any harm, and it cannot be helped now."
"No," said Thomas; "the master need not know how it was done, for none of us will ever tell about it."
"No, indeed, we will never tell," cried all the boys.
