replied Rob.
"You know we live in the same house, and mostly come on to school
together, an' both him an' me is apt to stop for peanuts. And the first
time I saw him do that, taking out a handful extra for himself, was one
morning when I hadn't any money to buy; but he stopped in, and I staid
out, 'cause it was too kind of tantalizing to go in and smell 'em all
freshly roasted, and not get any; and I was looking in between the
posies and plants in the shop, and when Matty was filling up her
measure for him--only the two-center one--I saw him do that mean trick;
on a girl, too, and she a hunchback! He slipped his hand into the
basket, and carried it full to his dinner-basket. So after that I
watched, whether I went in or staid out; and he never lets a time go by
that he don't hook a handful, maybe two, if he gets the chance. You
see, that girl's got such a lot of thick hair hanging round her, it's
most like a thick veil, and would keep her from seeing what goes on
behind or by the side of her. I tell you, Jim, I guess with one time
and another he must have bagged two or three quarts of peanuts off of
you and the hunchback, and I couldn't let it go on any longer. This
very morning he bought two cents worth, and hooked as much as five."

Jim's indignation had grown higher and fiercer with every succeeding
word of this story; and, unfortunately, at this moment Theodore came
around a corner of the school-building upon the playground, and, as a
combination of ill luck would have it, he was eating peanuts, which he
extracted from a pocket whose bulging proportions showed that the stock
from which he was drawing was a large one.

The sight inflamed Jim's passion beyond all bounds; and he immediately
advanced upon Theodore in a manner and with a look which left no doubt
as to his purpose. The culprit dodged the first blow aimed at him; but
in another instant Jim's hand was upon his collar, while, with language
which was neither choice nor mild, he struck him several times, and
would have continued the blows had he not in his turn been seized upon
by one of the masters, who had seen the whole thing, to whom it
appeared to be the most unprovoked attack.

Jim's fury had so passed beyond restraint, that for a moment neither
the sight of the teacher nor his stern voice calling him to order had
the effect of bringing him to his senses; and he even turned upon the
gentleman himself, probably believing for the moment that it was one o