At the end of the allotted time the two competitors had been told to hand in their essays, and how Mr.McLauchlan was sniggering is not worth recording, so dumfounded, confused, and raging was Tommy.

He clung to his papers, crying fiercely that the two hours could not be up yet, and Lauchlan having tried to keep the laugh in too long it exploded in his mouth, whereupon, said he, with a guffaw, "He hasna written a word for near an hour!" "What! It was you I heard!" cried Mr.Ogilvy gleaming, while the unhappy Cathro tore the essay from Tommy's hands.

Essay! It was no more an essay than a twig is a tree, for the gowk had stuck in the middle of his second page.

Yes, stuck is the right expression, as his chagrined teacher had to admit when the boy was cross-examined.

He had not been "up to some of his tricks," he had stuck, and his explanations, as you will admit, merely emphasized his incapacity.
He had brought himself to public scorn for lack of a word.