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turn. He put Joe’s slate on the desk and drew a line down the middle of it
from top to bottom.
“Now,” said he, “as long as he is on your side you can stir him up and
I’ll let him alone; but if you let him get away and get on my side, you must
leave him alone as long as I can keep him from crossing over.”
“All right, go ahead.”
The tick escaped from Tom, presently, and crossed the equator. Joe
harassed him a little, and then he got away and crossed back again. While
one boy was worrying the tick with absorbing interest, the other would look
on with interest as strong, the two heads bowed over the slate, and the two
souls dead to all things else.
A tremendous whack came down on Tom’s shoulders, and its duplicate
on Joe’s, and for the space of two minutes the dust continued to fly from the
two jackets and the whole school to enjoy it. The boys had been too
absorbed to notice the hush that had stolen upon the school a while before
when the master came tip-toeing down the room and stood over them. He
had seen a good part of the performance before he contributed his bit of
variety to it.
(From the
Adventures of Tom Sawyer
by Mark Twain)
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