[Top]CHAPTERX.THE BATTLE NEAR GARDEN ISLAND.Oscar Chester had disappeared a second time, and most of the boys in the boat were paralyzed with terror. Dory saw him as he rose, and knew just where he was. The Goldwing worked lively in that breeze. The skipper handled his sheets with extraordinary celerity. Going free, the schooner dashed down to the spot, and reached it just as the victim of his own folly rose again to the surface.Dory saw him just as the bow of the Goldwing was about to strike his head. Keeping her off a little, he leaned over the side, and grasped the drowning bully by the hair of the head, though not till he had put the helm hard down.It was but a meagre hold that he had upon the sufferer, but he clung to him till the boat came up into the wind. Oscar had not lost his senses, though his mouth was too full of water to permit any utterance, if he had any thing to say. Doryheld on, though the aimless struggles of the victim rendered it very difficult for him to do so.“Grab him by the collar!” shouted Dory to the next fellow in the boat. Lew Shoreham, who was the largest boy in the crowd, obeyed the order; though it was a difficult matter for an inexperienced hand to do any thing while the boat was flopping about in the heavy sea. But Lew got hold with one hand, and Dory shifted his grasp from the hair to the collar.After a lively struggle, with the assistance of two other boys, they succeeded in hauling Oscar into the boat. He was exhausted by his struggles in the water, and he dropped upon the floor of the standing-room as limpsy as a wet rag. Dory gave no further attention to him, but grasped the helm, and soon got the Goldwing upon her course again, so that she was steady.“Turn him over on his stomach, and let the water run out of him,” said the skipper. “Here, Bolly! Come aft! You can stand up in a boat.”Illustration: The Battle off Garden IslandTHE BATTLE OFF GARDEN ISLAND. Page 113.Bolingbroke obeyed the order, and the victim poured out a considerable quantity of water from his mouth. Dory then directed his companions to convey the sufferer to the cabin, and put himin one of the berths, covering him with the blankets. But Oscar was not insensible, for he had only exhausted himself by his violent struggles. In half an hour he had recovered from the shock. The fresh wind made it cool on the lake, and it took all the blankets on board to warm him.“That was a narrow escape. He had been down twice; and if he had gone down again we should not have seen him again,” said Bolingbroke, as he came out of the cabin. “I think that fellow will obey orders next time.”“No, he won’t!” cried Oscar, sticking his head out at the door. “It isn’t the first time I have been under water, and I’m not killed yet. Dory did it on purpose to pitch me overboard, and I will get even with him!”Perhaps all but Dory and Bolingbroke knew Oscar well enough not to be greatly surprised at this demonstration. It looked as though the lesson, which Dory hoped would cure him of his desire to handle a boat before he had learned how to do it, had been wholly lost upon the pupil. None of the party said any thing in reply to the speech, and it was plain that they stood in fear of the rebel.In another hour, when the Goldwing was approaching Thompson’s Point, Oscar was sufficiently warmed up to leave the cabin. He went aft, and seated himself quite near the skipper. He looked decidedly ugly, and Dory thought that half-drowning was not enough for him. He wondered what his uncle expected to do with such a fellow. He would be equal to a whole nest of hornets from the time the school was opened.“I heard some one call you Dory Dornwood,” said Oscar, fixing his gaze upon the skipper.“My name is Theodore Dornwood; but they call me Dory for short,” replied Dory.“The name is all right, Dory. You have insulted me, and you have pitched me into the lake,” continued Oscar, frowning like an untamed savage. “You got ahead of me before all these boys; and I am not the fellow to swallow an insult, or to pass over an injury.”Dory looked at the bully once, and then took a leisure survey of the lake ahead, and of the sails of the schooner.“I spoke to you, Dory Dornwood: didn’t you hear me?” demanded Oscar in savage tones.“I heard all you said. I have nothing to say in reply,” answered the cool skipper.“I spoke to you, and you will answer me, or take the consequences,” added Oscar. “I am not a spring chicken, as you took me to be. I said that you had insulted me, and pitched me into the lake. Do you confess that you have done so?”“I don’t confess any thing. I am in charge of this boat, and responsible for the lives of those in her,” replied Dory quietly. “I don’t care to talk about the matter you have brought up, just now. When we get to Beech Hill I will answer your questions, and we will settle the matter if there is any thing to settle; though I would rather have you fix it up with Captain Gildrock.”“That won’t do! I settle for an insult on the spot!” stormed Oscar. He rose from his seat, and with clinched fists approached the skipper.“We are close to the land!” shouted one of the boys forward.“I don’t care where we are! We settle this matter here and now,” said Oscar, making a slight movement forward.“Come, come!” interposed Bolingbroke. “This thing has gone far enough, Oscar. Don’t you seethat Dory is the skipper of the boat, and that we can’t do any thing without him? Let him alone, and he says he will make it right with you when we get ashore.”“Here and now!” repeated the bully.Dory had been running for Garden Island, where he brought up on his long tack. He understood the situation, and feared that some of the party might be drowned if Oscar Chester got the control of the boat. He heard the centre-board scraping on the sands at the bottom, though the water was nearly two hundred feet deep only a short distance from the shore of the island.The skipper realized that his rebel passenger was about to make an assault of some kind upon him, and he put the helm hard down. The boat came up into the wind with every thing shaking. Oscar sprang upon him as he did so, but Dory was on his feet at the same instant. The waves beat smartly upon the shore of the island, and the centre-board was still grating upon the bottom.“Do you confess that you insulted me?” demanded the bully, as he seized Dory by the collar.“I do not confess,” replied Dory. At the same instant he sprang like a tiger upon his assailant.The skipper was accustomed to the motion of the boat, while Oscar was not. The assailant had evidently not expected so vigorous a defence. Dory shook off the grasp of Oscar, a sharp struggle ensued, and it ended almost the instant it began in a heavy splash in the water.Dory had tumbled the bully over the stern of the boat into the lake. Those who looked on could hardly tell how it was done, for the defeat of Oscar had been accomplished almost like a flash. On the land it might have been different in the result, but in the uneasy boat the experienced hand won a quick victory.“He is in the water again!” shouted the boys.But he was in the water not more than half a minute, for there was not ten feet between the stern of the schooner and the island. Oscar scrambled to the shore, and made his way to the level of the island. The wind had filled the sails on the other tack, and the boat began to move ahead.Dory saw that Oscar had made a landing on the island. Attending to the sheets, he filled away on the port tack. The Goldwing dashed ahead as though she was glad to be rid of thebully who had made so much trouble on board of her.“Are you going to leave him there, Dory?” asked Lew Shoreham.“Of course I am going to leave him there. He can’t drown on the island; and, if I take him on board again, he may destroy the whole of us,” replied Dory rather warmly. “He is the most unreasonable fellow I ever met in my life.”“But what will he do on that island?” asked Ben Ludlow.“Repent of his folly the first thing he does, I hope,” answered Dory.“Does any one live on the island?” inquired Jim Alburgh.“No one lives there. If any one did, that fellow would get up a quarrel with him in fifteen minutes. Captain Gildrock may settle his case, though I fancy he will go for me the first chance he gets.”“He is sure to do that,” added Bob Swanton.“He may get a thrashing if he does,” replied Dory.“Don’t be too sure of that, Dory. He is a fighting character, and has been turned out ofthree academies, to say nothing of half a dozen other schools. He rules the roost wherever he goes,” continued Bob.“He won’t do it at Beech Hill,” said Dory confidently.“If he don’t he will run away.”“He won’t run a great ways before my uncle gets his paw upon him. I am going down to Burlington this afternoon, in the steamer, after my uncle. We shall pass the island, and he can do what he pleases with the fellow. I don’t think I am any more afraid of him than he is of me.”During the rest of the passage the events we have narrated were fully discussed, and Dory learned more about the antecedents of Oscar Chester. Doubtless he was the worst fellow in the party; but, if the truth had been known, Dory would have understood that some of the others were not much better. In three hours from Burlington the Goldwing arrived at the little lake on which Beech Hill was located.Mr. Brookbine, a very intelligent carpenter, who had been engaged as an instructor in this department, was on the wharf; and the new pupils were handed over to him. He marched them tothe dormitory, where the boys deposited what little baggage they brought. The Sylph lay at the wharf, and the smoke was pouring out of her smoke-stack; for Jepson had received a telegraph-message from Captain Gildrock.The boys were more interested in thesteam-yacht than in any thing else; and they immediately asked permission of Mr. Brookbine, as they had before of Dory, to go to Burlington in her. The master-carpenter was willing; but he decided to go with them, after the experience which Dory had had with them on the passage up.Dory was the pilot, and he took his place in the pilot-house. He was perfectly at home there; and the Sylph was really under his command, for the carpenter knew nothing about boats or navigation. In a discussion in regard to Oscar Chester, Mr. Brookbine thought he had better be taken on board, for it would be late before they returned from Burlington. A boat was sent for him, and he was brought on board.
[Top]
Oscar Chester had disappeared a second time, and most of the boys in the boat were paralyzed with terror. Dory saw him as he rose, and knew just where he was. The Goldwing worked lively in that breeze. The skipper handled his sheets with extraordinary celerity. Going free, the schooner dashed down to the spot, and reached it just as the victim of his own folly rose again to the surface.
Dory saw him just as the bow of the Goldwing was about to strike his head. Keeping her off a little, he leaned over the side, and grasped the drowning bully by the hair of the head, though not till he had put the helm hard down.
It was but a meagre hold that he had upon the sufferer, but he clung to him till the boat came up into the wind. Oscar had not lost his senses, though his mouth was too full of water to permit any utterance, if he had any thing to say. Doryheld on, though the aimless struggles of the victim rendered it very difficult for him to do so.
“Grab him by the collar!” shouted Dory to the next fellow in the boat. Lew Shoreham, who was the largest boy in the crowd, obeyed the order; though it was a difficult matter for an inexperienced hand to do any thing while the boat was flopping about in the heavy sea. But Lew got hold with one hand, and Dory shifted his grasp from the hair to the collar.
After a lively struggle, with the assistance of two other boys, they succeeded in hauling Oscar into the boat. He was exhausted by his struggles in the water, and he dropped upon the floor of the standing-room as limpsy as a wet rag. Dory gave no further attention to him, but grasped the helm, and soon got the Goldwing upon her course again, so that she was steady.
“Turn him over on his stomach, and let the water run out of him,” said the skipper. “Here, Bolly! Come aft! You can stand up in a boat.”
Illustration: The Battle off Garden IslandTHE BATTLE OFF GARDEN ISLAND. Page 113.
THE BATTLE OFF GARDEN ISLAND. Page 113.
Bolingbroke obeyed the order, and the victim poured out a considerable quantity of water from his mouth. Dory then directed his companions to convey the sufferer to the cabin, and put himin one of the berths, covering him with the blankets. But Oscar was not insensible, for he had only exhausted himself by his violent struggles. In half an hour he had recovered from the shock. The fresh wind made it cool on the lake, and it took all the blankets on board to warm him.
“That was a narrow escape. He had been down twice; and if he had gone down again we should not have seen him again,” said Bolingbroke, as he came out of the cabin. “I think that fellow will obey orders next time.”
“No, he won’t!” cried Oscar, sticking his head out at the door. “It isn’t the first time I have been under water, and I’m not killed yet. Dory did it on purpose to pitch me overboard, and I will get even with him!”
Perhaps all but Dory and Bolingbroke knew Oscar well enough not to be greatly surprised at this demonstration. It looked as though the lesson, which Dory hoped would cure him of his desire to handle a boat before he had learned how to do it, had been wholly lost upon the pupil. None of the party said any thing in reply to the speech, and it was plain that they stood in fear of the rebel.
In another hour, when the Goldwing was approaching Thompson’s Point, Oscar was sufficiently warmed up to leave the cabin. He went aft, and seated himself quite near the skipper. He looked decidedly ugly, and Dory thought that half-drowning was not enough for him. He wondered what his uncle expected to do with such a fellow. He would be equal to a whole nest of hornets from the time the school was opened.
“I heard some one call you Dory Dornwood,” said Oscar, fixing his gaze upon the skipper.
“My name is Theodore Dornwood; but they call me Dory for short,” replied Dory.
“The name is all right, Dory. You have insulted me, and you have pitched me into the lake,” continued Oscar, frowning like an untamed savage. “You got ahead of me before all these boys; and I am not the fellow to swallow an insult, or to pass over an injury.”
Dory looked at the bully once, and then took a leisure survey of the lake ahead, and of the sails of the schooner.
“I spoke to you, Dory Dornwood: didn’t you hear me?” demanded Oscar in savage tones.
“I heard all you said. I have nothing to say in reply,” answered the cool skipper.
“I spoke to you, and you will answer me, or take the consequences,” added Oscar. “I am not a spring chicken, as you took me to be. I said that you had insulted me, and pitched me into the lake. Do you confess that you have done so?”
“I don’t confess any thing. I am in charge of this boat, and responsible for the lives of those in her,” replied Dory quietly. “I don’t care to talk about the matter you have brought up, just now. When we get to Beech Hill I will answer your questions, and we will settle the matter if there is any thing to settle; though I would rather have you fix it up with Captain Gildrock.”
“That won’t do! I settle for an insult on the spot!” stormed Oscar. He rose from his seat, and with clinched fists approached the skipper.
“We are close to the land!” shouted one of the boys forward.
“I don’t care where we are! We settle this matter here and now,” said Oscar, making a slight movement forward.
“Come, come!” interposed Bolingbroke. “This thing has gone far enough, Oscar. Don’t you seethat Dory is the skipper of the boat, and that we can’t do any thing without him? Let him alone, and he says he will make it right with you when we get ashore.”
“Here and now!” repeated the bully.
Dory had been running for Garden Island, where he brought up on his long tack. He understood the situation, and feared that some of the party might be drowned if Oscar Chester got the control of the boat. He heard the centre-board scraping on the sands at the bottom, though the water was nearly two hundred feet deep only a short distance from the shore of the island.
The skipper realized that his rebel passenger was about to make an assault of some kind upon him, and he put the helm hard down. The boat came up into the wind with every thing shaking. Oscar sprang upon him as he did so, but Dory was on his feet at the same instant. The waves beat smartly upon the shore of the island, and the centre-board was still grating upon the bottom.
“Do you confess that you insulted me?” demanded the bully, as he seized Dory by the collar.
“I do not confess,” replied Dory. At the same instant he sprang like a tiger upon his assailant.
The skipper was accustomed to the motion of the boat, while Oscar was not. The assailant had evidently not expected so vigorous a defence. Dory shook off the grasp of Oscar, a sharp struggle ensued, and it ended almost the instant it began in a heavy splash in the water.
Dory had tumbled the bully over the stern of the boat into the lake. Those who looked on could hardly tell how it was done, for the defeat of Oscar had been accomplished almost like a flash. On the land it might have been different in the result, but in the uneasy boat the experienced hand won a quick victory.
“He is in the water again!” shouted the boys.
But he was in the water not more than half a minute, for there was not ten feet between the stern of the schooner and the island. Oscar scrambled to the shore, and made his way to the level of the island. The wind had filled the sails on the other tack, and the boat began to move ahead.
Dory saw that Oscar had made a landing on the island. Attending to the sheets, he filled away on the port tack. The Goldwing dashed ahead as though she was glad to be rid of thebully who had made so much trouble on board of her.
“Are you going to leave him there, Dory?” asked Lew Shoreham.
“Of course I am going to leave him there. He can’t drown on the island; and, if I take him on board again, he may destroy the whole of us,” replied Dory rather warmly. “He is the most unreasonable fellow I ever met in my life.”
“But what will he do on that island?” asked Ben Ludlow.
“Repent of his folly the first thing he does, I hope,” answered Dory.
“Does any one live on the island?” inquired Jim Alburgh.
“No one lives there. If any one did, that fellow would get up a quarrel with him in fifteen minutes. Captain Gildrock may settle his case, though I fancy he will go for me the first chance he gets.”
“He is sure to do that,” added Bob Swanton.
“He may get a thrashing if he does,” replied Dory.
“Don’t be too sure of that, Dory. He is a fighting character, and has been turned out ofthree academies, to say nothing of half a dozen other schools. He rules the roost wherever he goes,” continued Bob.
“He won’t do it at Beech Hill,” said Dory confidently.
“If he don’t he will run away.”
“He won’t run a great ways before my uncle gets his paw upon him. I am going down to Burlington this afternoon, in the steamer, after my uncle. We shall pass the island, and he can do what he pleases with the fellow. I don’t think I am any more afraid of him than he is of me.”
During the rest of the passage the events we have narrated were fully discussed, and Dory learned more about the antecedents of Oscar Chester. Doubtless he was the worst fellow in the party; but, if the truth had been known, Dory would have understood that some of the others were not much better. In three hours from Burlington the Goldwing arrived at the little lake on which Beech Hill was located.
Mr. Brookbine, a very intelligent carpenter, who had been engaged as an instructor in this department, was on the wharf; and the new pupils were handed over to him. He marched them tothe dormitory, where the boys deposited what little baggage they brought. The Sylph lay at the wharf, and the smoke was pouring out of her smoke-stack; for Jepson had received a telegraph-message from Captain Gildrock.
The boys were more interested in thesteam-yacht than in any thing else; and they immediately asked permission of Mr. Brookbine, as they had before of Dory, to go to Burlington in her. The master-carpenter was willing; but he decided to go with them, after the experience which Dory had had with them on the passage up.
Dory was the pilot, and he took his place in the pilot-house. He was perfectly at home there; and the Sylph was really under his command, for the carpenter knew nothing about boats or navigation. In a discussion in regard to Oscar Chester, Mr. Brookbine thought he had better be taken on board, for it would be late before they returned from Burlington. A boat was sent for him, and he was brought on board.