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The story starts out in a classroom called 5C in Northwest Southeast Central School. The class teacher, Mrs Chalkboard, Is late. Hardly anyone is worried about it, except for the class captains, David Worthy and Fiona McBrain and Newton Hooton, a kid who is scared of almost anything, and worried that Mrs Chalkboard might of had an accident and got killed. After a few seconds of chaos, involving Henry McThrottle (the main character) and Clive Durkin (a bully who treatens people with his brother) the principal, Principal Greenbeard, (who is obsessed with ships and acts as if the school is a large ship) comes in with a subsitute teacher, Mr Brainfright, saying that Mrs Chalkboard had to 'take a spot of shore leave'. After Greenbeard leaves, he asks the students what they are going to teach him today, as opposed to him teaching them. After some confusion the teacher decides to teach the class how to breathe. However while leaning out the window, he then falls out of it, and the classroom is on the second floor. But they can see his toes so after some effort from Henry and Gretel Armstrong (the strongest girl in the school) and the rest of the class, they eventually pull him back in, just as Mrs Cross, the year six teacher comes in to complain about the noise. Later on Brainfright gives the class a maths problem, after Fiona asks to do some problems, which is against Brainfright's wishes. He tells the class that a man has a goat, a wolf and some cabbage, and he needs to cross a river. There's a boat there, but it can only hold two things. If the man takes the wolf, the goat will eat the cabbage, and if the man takes the cabbage, the wolf will eat the goat. The class starts arguing about why he needs the things anyway, and why he needs to cross the river. To get them to try to work it out, he offers a lollipop to whoever gets it right, much to Henry's desire. While trying to work it out, Clive shoots spit balls at him. Although it's annoying, Henry uses the chewed up bits of paper to help him solve the problem, winning him the lollipop. At recess Clive and Fred, Clive's brother, claim that the lollipop is his, because he used Clive's spitballs to help him work it out. Fred and Henry then have a fight, until Mrs Cross stops it. Even though Fred started it, Mrs Cross blames it on Henry, as she and all the other teachers see him as a honour student. As a result he gets sent to the principal's office. Expecting the worst, Greenbeard acually understands what he's talking about and tells him of a treasure full of things that he had and even stole (page not finished).