They wanted him to spell with a dashing assurance.

But he did not begin a word until he had mentally felt his way through it.

After ten minutes of spelling hard words Jeems Buchanan, the captain on the other side, spelled "atrocious" with an _s_ instead of a _c_, and subsided, his first choice, Jeems Phillips, coming up against the teacher.

This brought the excitement to fever-heat.

For though Ralph was chosen first, it was entirely on trust, and most of the company were disappointed.