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"Foller me," said Sneak, leading the way to the stable, and taking with him one of the spades he had brought in from the burial; "now," he continued, when they were with the horses, "dig a hole at this end of the stall, and bury your coat. If you hadn't took it in the house, like a dunce, they'd never 'ave known any thing about it." "Oh, my goodness!
One poor woman certainly to be robbed of her bitter wages, and another so lovely! put to the burning shame of being the subject of a street brawl! What will this silly neighborhood say? 'Has the gentleman a heart as well as a hand? 'Is it jealousy?" There he paused, afraid himself to answer the supposed query; and then "Oh! Kristian Koppig, you have been such a dunce!"
"And got your head blown off, dot's vot you does!" exclaimed his horrified friend. "I'll come to that sooner or later any way," was the reply; "but I'm not going to be shot; I'm not such a dunce as that; I mean to take one glance over the logs, and will draw back so quickly that no one will get a chance to shoot me."
As has been said, many had heard Pumpkin Bill's wild cries, but now that he had quieted down these boomers returned to their couches, grumbling that the half-witted lad should thus be allowed to disturb their rest. In a minute Dick Arbuckle and Pumpkin were hurrying along the road the dunce had previously traveled.
And the stripes were not altogether wasted, for the dunce, though still very 'raw, made progress with his studies. It was known, moreover, that he was going to sea, always a ground of pre-eminence with schoolboys; and in his case the glory was not altogether future, it wore a present form when he came driving to Rye behind four horses in the same carriage with an admiral.
I learned afterwards that he had so long borne the names of "dunce" and "blockhead" in the school he attended in his own village, that he supposed himself to be really such, and made up his mind that it was useless for him to try to be anything else: and I think when our teacher first called him up for examination he was inclined to be of the same opinion.
I owe an apology to Lord Campbell for even naming him on the same page on which stands the name of dunce: for assuredly in shrewd, massive sense, as well as in kindness of manner, the natural outflow of a kind and good heart, no judge ever surpassed him. But I may fairly point to his career of unexampled success as an instance which proves my principle.
At this day, there is a vast increase of knowledge spread over all society, compared with that in the Middle Ages; but is there not a still greater distinction between the highly educated gentleman and the intelligent mechanic, than there was then between the baron who could not sign his name and the churl at the plough; between the accomplished statesman, versed in all historical lore, and the voter whose politics are formed by his newspaper, than there was between the legislator who passed laws against witches and the burgher who defended his guild from some feudal aggression; between the enlightened scholar and the dunce of to-day, than there was between the monkish alchemist and the blockhead of yesterday?
Turn the question about. If he does not know how the sun gets from the place where it sets to where it rises, he knows at least how it travels from sunrise to sunset, his eyes teach him that. Use the second question to throw light on the first; either your pupil is a regular dunce or the analogy is too clear to be missed. This is his first lesson in cosmography.
"What does this mean, Firefly?" he asked of the pony, but the animal could not answer. Jack heaved a sigh and then drew a pistol he carried. "I'll fire a shot that will attract the attention of the others," he reasoned. "What a dunce I was to get lost! I surely make a fine leader!" Throwing up the pistol he discharged it. Hardly had he done so when his pony started to bolt.
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