so completely taken aback were they that all save those ordered to
remain rose from their seats and went out in a quiet and orderly
way, very different from the wild rush which generally terminated
school time.

Ned being in the second class was one of those who went out. Instead
of scattering into groups, the boys gathered in a body outside.

"What do you think of that, Sankey?" Tompkins said. "It seems
almost too good to be true. Only fancy, no more thrashing except
for lying and things of that sort, and treating us like friends!
and he talked as if he meant it too."

"That he did," Ned said gravely; "and I tell you, fellows, we shall
have to work now, and no mistake. A fellow who will not work for
such a man as that deserves to be skinned."

"I expect," said James Mather, who was one of the biggest boys in
the school though still in the third class, "that it's all gammon,
just to give himself a good name, and to do away with the bad repute
the school has got into for Hathorn's flogging. You will see how
long it will last! I ain't going to swallow all that soft soap."

Ned, who had been much touched at the master's address, at once
fired up:

"Oh! we all know how clever you are, Mather--quite a shining
genius, one of the sort who can see through a stone wall. If you
say it's gammon, of course it must be so."