Comprehension (46-50) : Read the passage and answer the questions that follow:

To the great delight of children, schools were being hurriedly closed. Children of all ages and sizes were running helter-skelter, screaming joyouslay, “No school, no school. Tiger, tiger!” They were shouting and laughing and even enjoyed bing scared. They seemed to welcome me. I felt like joining them, and bounded away from the restaurant door and trotted along with them, at which they gleefully cried, “The tiger is coming to eat us; let us get back to the school!

I followed them through their school gate white they ran up and shut themselves in the school hall securely. I ascended the steps of the school, saw an open door at the far end of a veranda, and walked in. it happened to be the headmaster’s room, I believed, as I noticed a very dignified man jumping on his table and heaving himself up into an attic. I walked in and flung myself on the cool floor, having a partiality for cool stone floor, with my head under the large desk – which gave me the feeling of being back in the Mempi cave _______ As I drowsed, I was aware of cautious steps and hushed voices all around. I was in no mood to bother about anything. All I wanted was a little moment of sleep; the daylight was dazzling. In half sleep I heard the doors of the room being shut and bolted and locked. I didn’t care. In slept. While I slept a great deal of consultation was going on. I learnt about it later through my Master, who was in the crowd – the crowd which had gathered after making sure that I had been properly locked Up and was watching. The headmaster seems to have remarked some days later, “Never dreamt in my wildest mood that I’d have to yield place to a tiger”. A wag had retorted, “Might be one way of maintaining better iscipline among the boys.”

Question-49 : Which word describes the tone of the narrative when the headmaster’s reaction to the tiger’s arrival is mentioned?

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