He put his arm around Shocky just a moment, and then told him to hasten across to the other road, so as to come back to the school-house in a direction at right angles to the master's approach.

But the caution was not needed.

Shocky had taken care to leave in that way, and was altogether too cunning to be seen coming down the road with Mr.
Hartsook.

But after he got over the fence to go through the "sugar camp" (or sugar _orchard_, as they say at the East), he stopped and turned back once or twice, just to catch one more smile from Ralph.

And then he hied away through the tall trees, a very happy boy, kicking and ploughing the brown leaves before him in his perfect delight, saying over and over again: "How he looked at me! how he did look!" And when Ralph came up to the school-house door, there was Shocky sauntering along from the other direction, throwing bits of limestone at fence rails, and smiling still clear down to his shoes at thought of the master's kind words.
"What a quare boy Shocky is!" remarked Betsey Short, with a giggle.