When the gang finds out from Palmer what he did in school to deserve an after-school punishment, how do they react? How does Palmer feel? What else does he do in order to stay in school a little longer?

Palmer tells the boys that he spit on the floor at school. When Miss Kiner, the teacher, learned that Palmer had cleaned it up, she allowed him to leave. Rather than walk with the gang home and run the risk of Nipper seeing him, Palmer decides to spit on the floor in front of Miss Kiner. She then tells him he must write a sentence on the board. In order to make the punishment last longer, Palmer adds words to the sentence and erases lines when she is not looking.