noon
_ Thursday . _ Yesterday , when the ground was hard and smooth , but not too dry , marbles struck the school like a lightning express . It appears that before school in the morning Geordie had `` trusted '' a few leading spirits -LRB- Taulbee and Philip among the cottage boys , Lige Munn and Harl Drake among the day-pupils -RRB- with sets of marbles , giving them three days ' time in which to pay him the ten cents a set . At noon playtime I was surrounded by a mob of my boys , loudly demanding extra work , while the woodwork teacher was beseiged by day-pupils of all sizes and ages , demanding extra jobs in the shop . When Hen told me before supper that all the `` day-schools '' as well as the cottage boys were buying `` marvles '' from Geordie , I said , `` Oh , you must be mistaken . Geordie has not more than the dozen sets he traded you boys out of after Christmas , and possibly a few others collected before . '' Hen looked wise .