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Tom was bored, so he took out a treasure he had on him at the moment. It was a large black beetle—a “pinchbug,” he called it. It was in a small box. The first thing the beetle did was to take him by the finger. A natural reaction followed, and the beetle went floundering into the aisle. A poodle dog came along. He spied the beetle; hesurveyed the prize; walked around it; smelt at it from a safe distance; walked around it again; then lifted his lip and tried to bite it. Eventually, the dogs’ chin descended and touched the enemy, who bit into it it. There was a sharp cry, a shake of the poodle’s head, and the beetle fell a couple of yards away.
The spectators shook with a gentle joy, several faces went behind fans and hand-kerchiefs, and Tom was entirely happy.
He went home quite cheerful, thinking to himself that there was some satisfaction about divine service when there was a bit of variety in it.
Chapter VI
On Monday morning Tom Sawyer felt miserable. Monday mornings were always like that because they began another week’s suffering in school.
Tom lay thinking. He wished he was sick; then he could stay home from school. Here was a vague possibility. He thought about it, but didn’t find anything wrong. He investigated again. This time he thought he could detect colicky symptoms, but they soon grew feeble. He reflected further. Suddenly he discovered something. One of his upper front teeth was loose. This was lucky; he was about to begin to groan, as a “starter,” as he called it, when it occurred to him that if he came into court with that argument, his aunt would pull it out, and that would hurt. So he thought he would hold the tooth in reserve for the present, and seek further.
Nothing felt off. Then he remembered hearing the doctor tell about a certain thing that laid up a patient for two or three weeks and threatened to make him lose a finger. So the boy eagerly drew his sore toe from under the sheet and looked at it. He did not know the necessary symptoms. However, it seemed well worth a try, so he started groaning.
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