You must pick up your books and
leave the schoolhouse."
Old Zack eyed him in silence. "I'm goin' to school, and I'm goin' here,"
he said at last.
That was defiance of the board's authority, and the lawyer--a young
man--threw off his coat and tried to eject the unruly pupil from the
room; but to his chagrin he was himself ejected, with considerable
damage to his legal raiment. Returning from the door, old Zack offered
opportunity for battle to the reverend gentlemen--which they prudently
declined. The lawyer re-entered, covered with snow, for old Zack had
dropped him into a drift outside.
Summoning his two colleagues and the schoolmaster to assist him in
sustaining the constituted authority, the lawyer once more advanced upon
old Zack, who retreated to the far corner of the room and bade them come
on.
Many of the smaller pupils were now crying from fright; and the two
clergymen, probably feeling that the proceedings had become scandalous,
persuaded their colleague to cease hostilities; and in the end the board
contented itself with putting a formal order of expulsion into writing.
School was then dismissed for that afternoon, and they all went away,
leaving old Zack backed into the corner of the room.
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