'What for 's 't ca'd the Shorter Carritchis, Bob?'
''Cause it's no fully sae lang's the Bible,' answered Robert,
without giving the question the consideration due to it, and was
proceeding to turn the matter over in his mind, when the mental
process was arrested by a shout of laughter. The other boys had
tied Shargar's feet to the desk at which he sat--likewise his hands,
at full stretch; then, having attached about a dozen strings to as
many elf-locks of his pale-red hair, which was never cut or trimmed,
had tied them to various pegs in the wall behind him, so that the
poor fellow could not stir. They were now crushing up pieces of
waste-paper, not a few leaves of stray school-books being regarded
in that light, into bullets, dipping them in ink and aiming then at
Shargar's face.
For some time Shargar did not utter a word; and Robert, although
somewhat indignant at the treatment he was receiving, felt as yet no
impulse to interfere, for success was doubtful. But, indeed, he was
not very easily roused to action of any kind; for he was as yet
mostly in the larva-condition of character, when everything is
transacted inside. But the fun grew more furious, and spot after
spot of ink gloomed upon Shargar's white face. Still Robert took no
notice, for they did not seem to be hurting him much. But when he
saw the tears stealing down his patient cheeks, making channels
through the ink which now nearly covered them, he could bear it no
longer.
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