On the second day following, a number of the Hilltop boys went down to the other camp to take part in the athletic games appointed for that day, and to witness the sports, the greater part of them being present.
The doctor had selected Jack Sheldon to take part in the motor-boat races, Percival as a runner and also a boatman, Harry, Arthur, and young Smith in the second-class motor-boats, Herring and one or two others as swimmers, and Billy Manners and Seymour to take part in the tub race, besides a few others in other contests.
Dick Percival was not altogether pleased that Herring should have been chosen to represent the school in anything, but as the bully was really a fine swimmer, as well as runner and jumper, he swallowed his chagrin, and said nothing.
"They may like Pete's swimming," he said to himself, "but if they get an idea that the rest of the Hilltoppers are like him it will be pretty rough on the rest of us."
Jack, Dick, and a number of the boys went down in their boats, whileHerring, Merritt, Holt, and quite a number more took the train.
The boys were well received and Jack, Dick, Herring and the rest who were to take part in the sports went to the dressing rooms back of the club house used by the other boys.
There were many residents of the neighborhood present, and a goodly showing from Riverton as well, the seats along the river and in the club house balconies being very well filled.
The sports opened with a footrace between three or four of the strangers, and the same number of the Hilltop boys, these being Percival, Harry and two others, being the first heat.
Percival and Harry and two of the others won the heat, and would run in the final later in the afternoon.
Then Jack Sheldon and another of the Hilltoppers represented the Academy against two of their opponents, Jack and the boy who had brought the message winning for the final.
"I don't think there is any doubt as to who will win it, Sheldon," said the Rocky Hill boy, "but I am going to try all the same. It is some fun to race with a boy like you. You are as straight as a house, and you make a fellow hustle, which is good for any one."
Then there was a tub race in which Billy Manners, young Smith, and two or three others, attired in bathing tights, as fitted the occasion, competed with as many of the Rocky Hill boys.
Each boy's craft was a big washtub, which he was required to propel a certain distance without sinking it, the one who went the farthest being adjudged the winner.
Billy had a bright red bathing suit and as he was rather fat and chubby, with a fair complexion and reddish hair, he was bound to attract a good deal of attention, which he increased by his remarks.
"Grand race of ocean liners for a purse of ten thousand dollars!" he shouted, as he entered his tub and started on the course.
Young Smith presently collided with him, and upset his own tub, and was obliged to swim for the bank, but Billy managed to avert disaster, and went on in great style.
"A life on the ocean wave is nothing to this!" he shouted, whereupon there was more laughter; still Billy went on, beginning to take in water, but keeping afloat, and avoiding collisions with the others.
Two or three had already been obliged to swim ashore besides JesseW., some being Hilltop boys and some from the other camp.
Billy finally had to swim for it, his tub going under just as he got to the goal well ahead of every one else, and he was adjudged the winner amid considerable applause.
"Honest merit will assert itself whether it is in a tub or an ocean liner," he remarked, as he accepted the trophy, a miniature washtub decorated with ribbons, whereupon there was another laugh, and Billy retired to dress himself.
There were other contests between the Hilltop boys alone, and the Rocky Hills alone, as well as between teams made up of both camps, the winners being about evenly divided and the best of good feeling prevailing.
In the final motor-boat race Jack Sheldon won by several lengths, his opponent saying with a smile:
"Well, I did push you a bit, Sheldon, but you left me a long way behind for all that. I was scarcely second, you might say."
Herring had won a swimming match, but was beaten in running, Percival coming a long way ahead in the footrace, to the great delight of the boys from the Hilltop camp.
Jack had noticed Margaret and Mr. and Mrs. Van der Donk on the club house balcony, and heard with considerable pleasure her cheers of delight, and saw her wave the Hilltop colors frantically when he won the race with his boat, and could not help feeling a certain amount of pride.
Later when he and Percival and a number of the boys went up on the balcony to receive their prizes and accept the congratulations of their friends, Margaret, who was seated with some distinguished-looking strangers, said to the boy after congratulating him on his victory:
"Have you learned any more about the watch, Mr. Sheldon?"
"I have not found an owner yet," Jack replied, "and I don't know what to do with it. It is altogether too costly an article for me to wear, besides being a lady's watch, and my mother would feel that it was too much of a task to live up to it. However, I may find the owner yet."
One of the ladies with Margaret seemed greatly interested, and she now turned to Jack, and asked:
"What is the watch that you speak of? One that you found?"
"Yes, ma'am," said Jack, "and in a very strange manner. It was the night of the fire at Miss Van der Donk's. When I got back to the camp I found it in my pocket without knowing how it came there. It does not belong to Miss Margaret nor to any of the family, and they are as puzzled to know how I found it as I am myself. It was stolen I now know, but I do not know to whom it belongs."
"You know it was stolen?"
"Yes, I overheard a man tell the nurse at Miss Van der Donk's that he had stolen it. He gave it to her, in fact, and she lost it or threw it away, perhaps, fearing that it would make trouble."
"Why, you never told me that!" exclaimed Margaret in great astonishment."When did you learn all this?"
"The day after the fire. Dick and I went to your house the night after to see if we could get anything out of the nurse, Gabrielle, but she had gone during that day. I did not have a chance to tell you, and then your father came in and——-"
"Talked genealogy till you fell asleep," laughed Margaret. "But,Mrs. Hamilton, why are you so interested in this matter?"
"I'll tell you in a moment. You say it was a lady's watch?" to Jack.
"Yes, and a very handsome one. It is a Jurgensen with a gold case set with diamonds. I understand these watches are very valuable."
"Do you know the number?"
"Yes, Madame, do you?" Jack returned. "Pardon me, but I have grown cautious. Several persons have claimed the watch who had no title to it whatever, and I have become cautions. Have you lost a watch of this sort?"
"Yes, and I know its number by heart. Is it this?" and the lady gave the exact number of the watch, which Jack himself remembered.
"Yes, that is right," he said.
"I will tell you something else about it, which, perhaps, you do not know, my boy," the lady continued. "The upper part of the case, the one with the diamonds on it, is double, and the top of it will unscrew, showing a small space beneath. In this is a photograph of a little girl, one I lost, and a small gold coin. When you return take off the top of the jeweled side of the case, and if you find it as I say then you will know that the watch is mine."
"I did not deny this, Madame," said Jack, coloring a little, "but you can readily understand that I would be cautious after so many persons have tried to get the watch away from me. By the way, did you employ a detective, a rather self-important person, to find it for you?"
"Higgins!" laughed the lady. "Yes, I did, and he told me that he had discovered the person who had it."
"This was since the fire?"
"No, the day before."
"And you have not seen him since?"
"No, nor heard from him."
Jack laughed, and told how the detective had tried to get the watch from him, and how and why Dr. Wise had refused to give it up.
"Higgins always struck me as being a bit too zealous," said the lady. "I do not wonder that the doctor refused to deliver it after the man's poor account of you. You seem to be a great favorite both with the doctor and with the Hilltop boys."
"And deservedly so," echoed Percival. "We won't hear a word againstJack, and it has not spoiled him either."
"And you know about the watch, too?"
"Yes, being in the tent when it dropped out of Jack's pocket. I hoped he might keep it, but now——-"
"But now you think that I have a right to it?"
"To be sure, and I only meant that Jack should keep it in case he could find no owner for it:"
It was now time for the boys to return to the camp, and they took their leave, Jack promising to examine the watch when he got back, and to report if it was as the lady had said.
After supper Jack and Percival went to the doctor's, and Jack told what the lady had said, and asked to see the watch.
The top of the upper part of the case could be removed, just as she had said, and Jack found the photograph and the little coin under it.
"Well, that is all right," he said to Dick. "I am satisfied that the owner has now been found, for that thing has bothered me a good deal. I wonder what Higgins has been doing all this time, however, not to report his failure to get the watch?"
"A sudden rush of sense to the head may have affected him," laughed Dick, "and he was ashamed to say anything about it. If he had told that he had discovered the watch, and that you had it he would have been obliged to tell why it had not been given to him, and that would have been altogether too much for his vanity."
"I suppose so," said Jack with a smile.
Jack sent the watch to the lady he had seen with Margaret the next day, Dr. Wise being satisfied that it belonged to her, and suggesting that it be forwarded to her by express without delay.
The next day he received a very pleasant letter from the lady, together with a handsome locket to wear at the end of his watch chain.
"I suppose I can take this, Dick?" he said to his chum. "It is really a reward for having found the watch, and I did not expect any. However, it is not money, which I could not have taken, but it cost money just the same."
"Keep it, Jack," said Dick. "The lady feels that you ought to have something for your trouble, and you cannot very well refuse her gift."
"No, I don't suppose I can, but I did not want it, nevertheless.My mother is fond of things like that, and I can give it to her."
"Well, the lady could hardly object to that, but I would wear it for a time. She might see you shortly, and she would miss it."
"Very good," said Jack carelessly. "I will do it."
Just now the doctor was offering a prize for a poem to be written by one of the boys, not to exceed a certain length, and to be written upon some historical event, preferably one connected with the Hudson.
The poem must be entirely original, but must be unsigned and accompanied by a sealed envelope containing the writer's name, this not to be opened until the prize had been awarded to the best poem, at which time the name of the winner would be made known.
"That makes it fair for everybody," declared Percival. "I am not much of a poet, Jack, but you might try for this."
"You have had as much training in this line as I have, Dick," replied Jack. "There are plenty of subjects to choose from, Arnold's treason, the capture of Stony Point by Wayne, the firing upon the Highland Forts, Montgomery and Clinton, the burning of Kingston and the hanging of the man with the silver bullet and a lot more. Let your imagination loose, Dick, and I think you can win."
"If it were a case of letting my temper loose," laughed Percival, "it would be a sure thing, but the imagination is different."
Jack knew that his mother would be pleased if he won the prize, and so he determined to try for it, and began setting himself to work on some verses having to do with the very location where the Academy was situated.
When Billy Manners heard of the contest he said to Arthur, Harry, young Smith, and a few others who were down on the shore fixing their boats:
"Oh, say, can you see by the dawn and so forth!" he exclaimed, "that is fine. Think of the inspiration we get from this historic river. Look at the mountains all around us, full of patriotic memories, and then say that you can't do anything. Why, the poetry fairly bubbles out of me."
"Give us a sample, William," chuckled Harry. "There was another poet named William once. Perhaps you inherit some of his genius. I never saw any suspicion of it on you, but it may be there all the same. Give us a sample, There's a good fellow."
"Why, certainly," Billy rejoined. "Historical subject, eh? And one that occurred on the Hudson? Why, that's easy. Listen to this:"
Then Billy threw up his arms, gazed straight up into the sky, and delivered himself of his poetic thoughts as follows:
"When Freedom from her mountain height Unfurled her banner to the skies, Not a creature was stirring, not——-"
"You've got things mixed, Billy," roared Harry. "Try again.Besides, that is not original. It must be original to pass."
"Oh, well, all poets are plagiarists more or less," said Billy, "but this time I will give you something of my own."
Then Billy struck a pensive attitude, and began again:
"'Twas midnight; in his guarded tent,Not a drum was heard, nor a funeral note,By thy cold, gray stones, oh, sea!Once upon a midnight dreary,A gentle knight was pricking on——-"
"Worse and worse!" yelled Arthur. "Halleck, Poe, Tennyson, Spenser, and I don't know who else in a regular literary hash! That will do for you, my boy.' A little of that goes a long way."
"Didn't I tell you I was bubbling all over with poetry?"
"You're a bubble yourself," laughed Harry, "and you'll burst if you get too full of that sort of stuff."
"You wait till I really put my mind on it," said Billy with a droll look. "You'll be surprised, my boys."
"We don't doubt that in the least," said Harry. "Why, I never heard such poetry," chuckled young Smith.
"It actually makes me cry," said Arthur.
"You will be surprised when I take the prize," answered Billy, taking all this chaff good-naturedly.
"Yes, I think we will be," replied Seymour. "Surprised is no name for it. We will be actually thunderstruck."
"Oh, you boys are jealous," grinned Billy. "Shall I give you another sample?"
"Another piece of patchwork, you mean," grinned Harry. "No, please don't. I have not recovered from the other yet."
"You fellows do not appreciate real genius, and here is the river right at your feet to inspire you to noble thoughts. Come on, let's take a spin."
"You have set our brains to spinning already," said Arthur.
"No, one good turn deserves another," quoted Jesse W., with a broad grin. "Come on, boys, before Billy breaks out again."
"I may astonish you boys yet," laughed Billy, as he got into his boat and set off down stream.
Jack worked industriously on his poem, and Percival became serious and did some really good work on one that he had begun when he knew that Jack was at work, a number of the boys getting to work at the same time.
"I don't expect to do better than Jack," Percival said to Arthur, "but if he knows I am going in for this he will do all the better, and I want him to come out on top."
"He may anyhow, Dick," returned Arthur. "He has been doing something of this sort for the News in Riverton. They have not been signed, but I know that they were his from a line or two that I heard him repeating to himself in the tent when he did not know that any one was around. I recognized them afterwards in one of the poems published in the paper. Jack is a modest fellow and does not blow his own trumpet."
"Did any one else hear him, Art?"
"Yes, Harry. We did not say anything about it, but we know the pieces were his. Then you know that he has done something in that line for the Hilltop Gazette, of course?"
"To be sure I do. The Academy paper is doing fine since Jack took the editorship. It is some magazine now."
"I should say it was. Jack will write something good I know, and I want to see him win the prize."
"So do I, Art, as I told you before," replied Percival heartily.
Percival let it be known to Jack that he was trying for the prize and this, instead of making the boy feel envious, as some would have done, encouraged him and caused him to put forth his best efforts.
"I hear that you are going to compete for the poetic prize, Dick," he said to his friend. "That's fine. I hope you will get it. You used to do a lot of good things, and I don't see why you should not do them still. I'd like to see you get it, Dick."
Dick chuckled over this to Harry and Arthur and Billy, and said:
"Jack is putting his best foot forward, as I hoped he would. He thinks that I will beat him, and so he is doing his best. That's just what I wanted, and I hope he will win the pennant."
"H'm! you talk as if this was a baseball series," laughed Billy.
"Well, you know what I mean anyhow," returned Dick.
The boys put in their poems and the blank sealed envelopes containing their names and the titles of their productions, the envelopes not to be opened till after the prizes were given.
The doctor had all the manuscripts in his study, and was to go over them with the professors, the majority to decide which was the best.
On the night when the various manuscripts were in the doctor's study in the little cottage he occupied in the camp, Billy Manners was a bit restless, not from his literary efforts, but from having eaten something which greatly disagreed with him.
He occupied a tent with young Smith, and at a late hour awoke for the third or fourth time, and suddenly heard some one say in a whisper:
"It's all right, I've got it!"
Billy thought the voice was Herring's, but was not certain in his sleepy condition, and with pains gripping his bowels.
"Can you fix it?" somebody asked, and Billy thought this might be either Holt or Merritt, not being sure which it was, for the same reason that made him uncertain of the other.
"Fix it?" the first speaker retorted with a low chuckle, "of courseI can fix it, and fix his winning the prize, too."
"There's some mischief going on," thought the young joker. "I wonder what it is?"
The voices he had heard had come from the next tent, but whether it was the next on the right or the left he could not tell, not knowing whether he may have turned in his sleep or not, having a habit of finding himself in all sorts of queer positions when he awoke.
While he was thinking the matter over, and trying to locate the tent from which the voices proceeded he fell asleep, his pain having left him for a time.
He did not know how long it was when he was awakened again, as well by the pain as by hearing voices.
"That will do first rate," he heard some one say, and then he thought he detected a light in the tent next to his.
Young Smith was fast asleep, and oblivious of everything, "and Billy did not think it worth while to arouse him.
"They won't notice the difference?" asked either Merritt or Holt,Billy was not certain which.
"No, and now to put it back."
"Put what back, I wonder?" said Billy to himself, as he sat up.
"And give the doctor a surprise."
"Huh! he won't be the only one surprised!" growled some one, andBilly thought it was Herring this time.
"That fellow is up to some mischief," he muttered, "and I must find out what it is."
Then he jumped out of bed, put on his trousers and shoes, and crept softly outside.
It was dark in the camp, but Billy, as he stole out of the tent, could distinguish a dark form moving swiftly down the camp street, and followed without making any noise, taking care to keep as much as possible in the shadow.
Unless the person he was following should happen to look around, there was very little danger of his being seen, but he took all the precautions he could to avoid being detected.
"It is not a thief," he said to himself, "and it isn't any one who has designs on one of the boats. He left that tent, but who is he and what does he want?"
The silent figure, moving rapidly forward, presently left the line of tents, and made for the cottage occupied by the doctor.
"I wonder if it is the doctor walking in his sleep?" thought Billy."That would be a great joke, wouldn't it?"
He thought he saw a flash of light for a moment, but was not sure of this, and hurried on after the midnight prowler, having just time to see him enter the window of the doctor's cottage.
"Can it be the doctor after all?" he muttered.
"That would be funny after all. I wish I had brought my light with me. That's just like me, though, thinking of things when it is too late." He stepped under the front window of the cottage, through which he had seen the figure disappear and listened:
"I don't hear anything," he muttered. "I wonder if it could have been the doctor? Burglars would have no good excuse for coming to the camp. Who is it anyhow?"
Listening intently, he fancied he could hear some one moving about in the cottage, and then the steps approached the window.
He was about to step back, but was a little too late in that, as he had been in thinking of his pocket light.
In another moment some one dropped out of the window, and he was upset most unceremoniously.
The person, whoever it was, had landed on his head and shoulders, and he was thrown down in an instant.
"Hello! who is that?" he exclaimed, as he felt himself lying on the bare and rather damp ground.
Some one was struggling to his feet with a startled exclamation, and Billy snatched quickly at him, and caught a leg or an arm, he could not be certain which.
"I've got you now!" he cried, "and you've got to give an account of yourself, my man!"
The stranger, whoever he was, certainly did give an account of himself, but not in the manner which Billy meant.
There was a sudden shooting out of a brawny fist, and Billy was taken between the eyes, and for a moment saw stars.
"Ouch!" he ejaculated, letting go of the person he had seized,
Then somebody rolled him over with a quick move of the foot, and by the time the unfortunate joker arose his nocturnal combatant was out of sight, as well as hearing.
"H'm! that's too bad!" sputtered Billy. "I don't know now whether it was a burglar, a nightmare, or what it was. I think I'd better go back to bed. Being out in the air may have done me a lot of good, but I guess I've had enough of it."
With this conclusion he set out upon his return, but when he reached the line of tents was not certain whether he was in the right one or not, and began studying the appearance of things as much as he could by the very uncertain light.
"I wonder if this is our street after all?" he asked himself. "Let me see, we are the sixth tent from the top. Or is it the seventh? Six one way and seven the other, I guess. Wait till I see."
Then he went on, counting the tents one by one till he came to the sixth from the start.
The flap was thrown back, and Billy made up his mind that he was at the right one and went in.
When he found his cot, however, he found some one on it.
"H'm! that's young J.W., and I must not awaken him," he muttered.
As a natural consequence his own cot must be just opposite JesseW.'s, and he turned and went in that direction.
To his surprise he found the other cot occupied also.
"Hello, who is that?" asked Harry Dickson.
"It's me," said Billy. "I guess I must have got in the wrong tent. Have I been walking in my sleep?"
"How should I know?" laughed Harry. "You are in the wrong tent, that's all I do know. Arthur and I have this tent. Aren't you in with young Jesse W. Smith?"
"I thought I was," said Billy dolefully, "but I seem to have got twisted up a bit to-night. I've had the stomach ache."
"That will twist any one," chuckled Harry, "but really it is no laughing matter, my boy."
"No, I should say not. Well, I think I had better cut my call short.Would you kindly show me the way to my own tent?"
This was said in such a comical, and at the same time doleful tone, that Harry was forced to laugh.
"Why, certainly," he chuckled. "You've got on the wrong street, that is all. You can go through right here without having to go to the top or bottom and then down or up."
"Who is on the other side of the street?" asked Billy.
"Jones and Robinson."
"H'm! and they are right back of us. All right. I guess I can find the way now all right."
Then Billy started to go between two tents so as to reach his own on the next camp street.
"Look out for—-"
"Ouch! what's that?"
Harry was about to warn him to look out for the tent ropes, but Billy tumbled over them before he could be warned.
"I am having all sorts of fun to-night!" he said in a tone of disgust, as he picked himself up and made his way through to the other street.
Then he found his own tent and went in, but to make sure, even after he had found his bed unoccupied, got out his pocket light and turned it on.
"That's all right," he muttered, "but the next time I go wandering about the camp of a night without a light I'll stay at home!"
Either the light flashing in young J.W. Smith's face or Billy's mutterings awoke that young gentleman, and he sat up in bed, asking in a very drowsy tone:
"Is it time to get up, Billy? What's the matter?"
"Oh, nothing, I've been a bit restless, that's all, but I feel better now, so go to sleep, J.W., and get a good night's rest."
At that moment a distant church clock struck twelve, and then a rooster crowed.
"H'm! guess it is time I got to sleep!" grunted Billy, as he tumbled into bed, put out his light and was soon fast asleep.
In the morning when he and young Smith arose, the latter said to him in some surprise:
"Why, Billy, what is the matter, what have you been doing? You have got the blackest eye I ever saw on a boy."
"Me?" cried Billy. "Are you sure? Isn't it dirt? Where shouldI have been to get a black eye?"
"I am sure I don't know, but that's what it is all right. Look at it yourself, Billy, and see if it is not."
There was a little looking glass in the tent, and Billy now surveyed himself in this, finding that young Smith was right, and that he did have one beautiful black eye, the other being only slightly discolored.
He knew where he had obtained it, but did not think it necessary to explain the matter to young Smith.
"I'll wait and see who has the most to say about it," he thought, "and then I will know who it was that I followed last night, who it was that gave me this lovely decoration."
When he met the boys, however, all of them had something to say, andHarry said with a laugh:
"You must have got that when you stumbled over the tent rope last night, Billy."
"Yes, I guess I did," said Billy, but to himself he remarked that now there was very little chance of learning the truth.
That day a number of the boys from the camp down the river came up on the invitation of the Hilltop boys to pay them a visit, and to compete for various prizes offered by the doctor, and some of the people of the neighborhood who had gone to the other camp on the occasion of the regatta.
"Some of our boys took away prizes from you the other day," said Percival who received the visitors, "and it is only fair that we should give you a chance to capture something from us."
"We won't from you or Sheldon," replied one of the visitors, "but we will try to compete with the rest of your boys. There is no use trying to beat you, however."
"You won't if you don't try, at any rate," said Dick. "We are glad to see you, at any rate, and we will endeavor to make you enjoy yourselves."
Percival arranged a program, and at the suggestion of the leader of the visitors, although he would have liked not to do so, included Herring in an exhibition of swimming, and a match with four or five others, boys from both camps.
There was a three-legged race between Billy Manners and Seymour as one set of three legs, and two of the Rocky Hill boys as the other, which caused considerable amusement.
Billy's left leg was strapped to his partner's right so that they had really to run out of step in order to keep step, which seemed a paradox, but it was really the only way in which they could get along at all.
"When I put out my right leg do you put out your left," Billy cautioned his partner, "and put out the tied legs together. Keep out of step, in fact, and don't try to go too fast. This is the sort of race where you cannot be too quick if you want to win."
The efforts of the two teams, the funny mistakes they made, the many narrow escapes from tumbling, and the serious manner in which they took things, made a lot of laughter, and when finally Billy and his partner came in first there was a loud applause from every one.
"That makes a lot of fun for the rest of you," said Billy, in a lugubrious tone, as he rubbed the leg that had been bound to that of his partner, "but it is not so funny for the legs."
This remark made more laughter and then there was a flat race between teams from both camps, at least a dozen boys competing, which caused a good deal of excitement.
The race was won by Herring, Merritt, and two of the boys from the other camp, these four coming out in the lead and later the final was to be run, Herring expecting to win it.
In the meantime, he gave an exhibition of swimming, and a little later swam against two of the Rocky Hill boys.
As they were nearing the end of the course, Herring forging ahead and rapidly gaining on his opponents, intending to beat at the finish, one of the other boys was seen to throw up his hands and sink.
Herring would have kept on, claiming that this was only a trick of the boy to give his mate a chance to win the match, but a loud shout from the boys on the bank compelled him to stop.
Jack Sheldon happened to be at the shore in his boat, ready to start in the next event, when the shout arose.
In a moment he started his engine to going, and glided rapidly out upon the river toward where the boy had gone down.
He was confident that the boy would speedily rise, although not just where he went down, and he kept his eyes on the water so as to determine the spot at which he would come up.
He presently detected a certain motion of the water at a point a little to one side of his course, and in a moment steered his boat for that place, but not at too great speed.
He had calculated right, for when the boy came up Jack was within two feet of him and quickly made up the distance, reached out, caught him under the arms, and, by a dexterous move, lifted him into the boat.
The boy was nearly exhausted, but upon Jack's speaking cheerily to him, he revived sufficiently to assist his rescuer, and his getting into the boat was attended with no accident.
He collapsed when he was in, however, and Jack put for the shore at a rapid pace, a number of the boys being ready to take the fainting boy out as they came up the shelving beach.
"Why didn't you go to the boy's aid, Herring?" asked Percival, as the bully came in. "Couldn't you see that he had a cramp?"
"I have had that trick played on me before," retorted Herring in a surly tone. "How was I to know that it was real?"
"Our boys do not resort to such tricks?" declared the leader of the visiting team warmly, "and I do not think that the Hilltop boys in general can be accused of doing so."
"I don't know what you fellows do," said the other in the same surly tone, "because I have seen very little of you, but I know that that trick has been worked on me before, and I was prepared for anything. That's why I did not go to help him. Why didn't his own chum do it?"
"You were nearer," said Dick, and then he went away to see how the other boy was coming along.
Fortunately, he was out of danger, and was doing very well so that it was not necessary to stop the games, but Herring did not again have anything to do and shortly left the camp, and went off into the woods with Holt, leaving Merritt to finish the final of the flat race, losing to the boys from the other camp.
Jack won the race for motor-boats against a considerable fleet, and was the most popular boy in camp, not only on this account, but because of his timely action at the moment of danger whereby a catastrophe was averted.
"That's only another time when Jack Sheldon has shown his nerve," declared Harry warmly. "Why, the very first time I met him he saved a mighty bad situation by his coolness, and he has been doing those things ever since. Talk about nerve! Why, he is full of it!"
"Somehow he never seems to lose his head when it is most required," added Percival, "although to look at him you would not suppose that he had such a command over himself. It's when you get to know him that you find these things out."
"Why, he would as soon jump into a flying machine as get in a motor-boat," said Billy, "provided there was something to be done. He is a bird as well as a fish, and just as good at either."
The sports were closed by a tub race, every one being desirous of seeing Billy Manners in another of these amusing contests.
There were a dozen or more boys in the race, all prepared for a spill in the water, which seemed to be the inevitable end of such affairs.
Billy had a bathing suit of the Hilltop colors, and said as he got into his tub:
"This is the great race of the submersibles. Mine is the I.O.U.—-99, the fastest tub on the river. If she were fast I couldn't go—-fast to the bank, I mean."
"She'll be fast on the bottom, at any rate, Billy," said Harry.
Jack, Percival, and a number of the boys who did not usually take part in such sports, went into this for the sake of making more fun, but the visitors were not asked to enter, as they had not brought their bathing suits, and could not very well get along without them.
The tubs started out, the boys propelling them rapidly with their hands, avoiding collisions when they could, and doing their best to keep afloat as long as possible.
"You are not going to win this race, Billy," laughed Percival, as he spun ahead. "You can't take all the prizes, my boy, and I am going to beat you this time."
"Maybe not!" chuckled Billy, using both hands and making the water fly. "This is a U.S., not a U-boat, and I'm bound to win."
Jack was full of the spirit of the thing, and pushed the acknowledged rivals hard, presently passing Percival, and shouting to Billy:
"Look out, my boy, I am coming after you! Don't take in too much water. It isn't good."
"Come on, Jack!" shouted Billy. "I am not going to the bottom yet, my——-"
Just then young Smith collided with him, and his tub filled in an instant, forcing him to swim for the shore in a hurry.
"You have a submarine now, at any rate!" laughed the younger boy, who went on a few feet farther, and then had to swim for it.
Jack and Percival were now in the lead, and the nearest to the goal, all the rest having had to swim for it by this time, and there was considerable excitement.
Both boys were great favorites and the fact of their entering such a novel contest just for the fun of it, and to please the boys and their visitors, was admired by everybody.
There was an even chance for each of the boys, but the odds were in favor of Jack, although Percival was no less liked by the Hilltop boys.
"Keep her up, Jack!" roared forty boys.
"Go ahead, Dick!" shouted as many more.
Percival had to take to the water a second or two ahead of Jack, who won the race, much to the delight of all the boys, Dick included.
It was the day when the prizes were to be announced in the literary contest, and all the Hilltop boys were gathered in the pavilion eager to hear the result of the committee's consultation.
The doctor arose when all were present, and spoke of the contest, saying that it had brought out the best powers of a number of the boys and showed that they all had considerable ability when they put their minds on affair of this sort, and concluding by saying:
"I will now read the poem which I consider the best. In fact, it is the unanimous opinion of the committee that it is."
Thereupon the doctor began to read the opening lines of the poem, which were as follows:
"From the hills of the beautiful Hudson,Rendered sacred by patriot blood,Come to us most inspiring traditions,Swelling on in a glorious flood."
"The mighty achievements of Clinton, Of brave Putnam and—-"
Here Pete Herring suddenly jumped on his feet, and waving a paper in his hand, cried excitedly:
"That's plagiarism! That thing was not written by any of the Hilltop boys. It has been taken bodily from a paper published up the state, which I get every week, and was written by——-"
"Why, those verses were written by Jack Sheldon himself!" criedPercival, getting up excitedly.
"They were published in the Riverton News, but were unsigned. I know that Jack wrote them."
"Please be seated, Percival," said the doctor. "Sit down, Herring. I will give you an opportunity to speak presently. This poem purports to have been written by Sheldon. Is that so?"
"Yes, sir," said Jack, "or at least what you have read was written by me. I don't know if the rest was. I cannot tell till I hear it."
"And you say that the lines I have just read were not written by him?" Dr. Wise asked, turning to Herring.
"No, they were not, they were written by Miss Sadie May, and were published in a paper up the state. Here it is. I received it this morning, and was reading it as I came in."
"Will you kindly read the entire poem?" Herring had a good voice when he wanted to display it, and he now read the lines that the doctor had read, the poem being about twice as long as the portion already given.
"The poem I have here contains these lines," said the doctor, who had been following the manuscript in his hand, "but it is considerably longer."
"I did not put those verses in the poem that I submitted, sir," said Jack. "They had already been published in the News, and I would not think it right to submit any but entirely new matter. Will you read the rest of the poem? I can tell if it is mine, and I have a copy in my desk. If the rest is mine I do not see how these lines got in it, for I certainly did not put them in."
"The other poem is certainly Jack's," said Percival. "He showed it to me at the time he wrote it, and I have a copy of the paper containing it. I would not wonder if other boys had it also."
"I have!" spoke up five or six of the boys, Harry, Arthur and youngSmith among the number.
"Will you kindly let me see the out-of-town paper you have, Herring?" asked the doctor.
"Certainly," said Herring, taking the paper to the desk.
"When was your poem published, Sheldon?"
"Two weeks ago."
"And this paper is a week old. You say you got it this morning?" to Herring, who was on his way to his seat.
"Yes, but they sometimes come late or two or three together. A friend sends them to me."
"Have you the paper containing the poem handy, Percival?" asked the doctor. "Would you kindly fetch it?"
"Certainly, sir," and Percival left the pavilion, returning in a few minutes with a copy of the Riverton paper in his hand.
The doctor compared the verses in both and found them to be identical, saying with a puzzled look:
"The one in the News is the same as this other, but it is not signed.The other is signed Sadie May. Do you use that as a nom de plume,Sheldon?"
"No, sir, I do not," said Jack with a smile.
"Then it strikes me that this other paper has been taking liberties with the News, not only taking things 'written especially for the News,' as printed over the poem, but declining to give any credit to the paper, and putting on the name of another besides the writer. Reputable newspapers are not supposed to do this."
Many of the boys smiled, and the doctor continued:
"Didn't you recognize this poem when you read it in the out-of-town paper, Herring?"
"I had never seen it before," Herring answered, and it was noticed by some of the boys that he seemed a bit restless.
"Then you do not read the Riverton paper?"
"No, sir, I do not."
"I seldom read it myself," the doctor remarked, "or I would have remembered these verses. They are very clever and breathe the true spirit of patriotism. They really fit admirably into the rest of the poem, which I will read. Will you get your copy of the verses, Sheldon, and let some one compare them?"
"Certainly, sir," and Jack arose and left the place, returning shortly and handing a copy of his poem to Percival.
Then the doctor read the poem, and Percival showed by his expression that it was identical with the one in his hand.
"It is the same, sir," he said, "but it does not contain the opening lines which you read before."
"I don't see how they got in there, Dick," said Jack. "I am sure that I did not put them in. How could I? It would have been a most astonishing piece of absent-mindedness. Besides, I have only the printed copy now."
"However, it happened that the opening lines belong to another poem," observed the doctor, "both by the same author, it does not alter the fact that both fit the subject admirably, and might easily be a part of one production. The metre is the same, and the subject as well. The first serves excellently as an introduction to the other."
"I can see that they do, sir,", replied Jack, "but I am certain that I did not submit both. By the way," with a sudden inspiration, "may I see the manuscript, sir?"
"If you will come to the desk I shall be pleased to show it to you."
Jack went forward, took the copy of the poem, looked it over carefully a few moments, and suddenly said:
"The opening lines are not in my handwriting, Doctor. It is similar, but not the same. These lines have been inserted by some one else. I never put them in. You may see that they are at the top of the page, which had a wide margin. All the other pages had, but this one now has not. The title has been erased and written in at the top. Some one has tampered with the manuscript. You can see for yourself, Doctor."
"Yes, but who would do this, Sheldon? You certainly do not accuse me of doing it? Or any of the professors?"
"Hardly, Doctor," with a smile, "but some one has done it."
"But why should they, Sheldon, especially as both poems are your own? What reason would any one have to do this? If the inserted lines belonged to another poem so that you might be accused of plagiarism, then there would be some color to this argument, but the whole thing is yours."
"It is strange," said Jack, going back to his seat, all the boys seeming to be greatly puzzled, and talking to each other about the matter in low and earnest tones.
"I will now read the poem which took second prize," said the doctor, and proceeded to read Percival's poem, very much to the latter's surprise and delight.
"Well, I came somewhere near you, at any rate, Jack," he said, "butI never expected to come in second."
There were other poems read, one receiving a prize and the best honorable mention, the boys being thoroughly satisfied with the awards, and cheering the winners loudly.
Jack was still puzzled about his poem, but he said nothing, having certain ideas about the matter, but not caring to make them known at the time, preferring to wait till he had more information.
After the exercises were over the boys went off in little groups of four or five in different directions.
Percival went with Jack on the river, taking young Smith along, and when they were out from shore Dick said:
"You have an idea who inserted the verses of your other poem in your new one, haven't you, Jack?"
"How did Herring happen to hit upon some other verses of mine which a paper up the state had stolen?" asked Jack.
"He might do that, of course, but how did they get into the poem you had submitted two days before if he got the paper only this morning?"
"The paper was a week old, Dick."
"Then you think that Herring may have been lying, Jack?" asked Dick pointedly.
"Other persons besides Herring may have seen the verses in the other paper, Dick. I cannot prove—-now—-that Herring wrote them in."
"But you may do so at some other time?"
"That's what he means," said young Smith, "but Jack never says anything against a fellow unless he is sure of it."
"That's right enough, J.W., and we agree with you."
"Do you remember a night or so ago when Billy Manners had the black eye?" asked the young fellow suddenly. "He said he must have got it tripping over a tent rope, and Harry said he got into their tent by mistake. I asked him what he was doing outside, and at first he would not tell me, but afterward he said there was some funny business going on the night before, and he thought that Herring and Merritt were in it, but he could not tell what it was."
"Well?" asked Percival.
"Then he told me that he had gone to the doctor's cottage, and that some one got out the window, fell over him and gave him a black eye. Herring, as he thinks, said that he would fix somebody and keep him from getting the prize. He told me not to say anything, but——-"
"That's all right, J.W., it's as well you did, for now I think we will get at the bottom of this affair," said Percival in decided tones.
At the same time that Jack Sheldon, Dick Percival and young Smith were on the river together, Billy Manners, Arthur Warren and Harry Dickson were going up the road leading to the Van der Donk house, although they had no idea of going there.
When they were well away from the camp and there were no other boys in sight, Billy stopped short suddenly, and said:
"Funny thing about Herring's recognizing that girl's poem in Jack's verses, wasn't it?"
"Why, I saw those verses two weeks ago, and knew they were Jack's," replied Harry.
"Funny about my getting that black eye the other night, too, wasn't it?" Billy went on.
"Yes, but what has that got to do with——-"
"I'll tell you. That night I woke up and heard some one say in the next tent to ours: 'it's all right, I've got it,' and somebody else asked, 'can you fix `t?' and the first fellow answered, 'fix it? Of course I can fix it, and fix his winning the prize, too.' That's all I heard then."
"In the next tent?" said Arthur. "Who is in the next tent?"
"Herring and Merritt on one side and Seymour and Blaisdell on the other. It was not them I heard. It was Herring and Merritt. I was not sure of it at the time, being half asleep, but from what has happened since——-"
"Hello!" exclaimed Arthur. "This is getting interesting. Go on to how you got the black eye, Billy."
"Well, I knew that there was mischief of some sort going on, but I did not bear any more and fell asleep. Later I woke up again and heard one of the fellows say, 'That will do first rate,' and the other one asked, 'They, won't notice the difference?' and the first one, Herring I am sure, said: 'No, and now to put it back.' Then they said something about the doctor being surprised, and I knew that there was some mischief on foot and I jumped out of bed and went out."
"Well, and what then?" asked Arthur.
"I saw somebody hurrying along, and followed till I came to the doctor's cottage when I stood just under the open window. I could hear some one inside and finally came to the window. I was too late, and the first thing I knew somebody jumped out and upset me. I grabbed him by the leg, and he gave me a crack in the eye that made me see stars. Then he got away, and I found myself in your tent at last instead of my own, and later I fell over the tent rope and got another bump."
"And what do you make out the fellow was doing in the doctor's cottage?" asked Harry.
"Putting back the manuscript he had fixed up. He had written in the lines he thought were some one else's, and then he put it back. He must have just come from taking it away when I first heard him."
"Things fit in pretty well, Art," said Harry. "Pete Herring has always had it in for Jack since he first came here. Do you remember what Jack said to him? 'What was your father?' asked Pete in that nasty way he has, when Jack told him his father was dead. 'A gentleman,' said Jack and the emphasis he put on the word just hammered home the idea that he didn't think Pete was one. It was the neatest thing I ever heard. Do you remember it?"
"Yes, and I guess Pete hasn't forgotten it either."
"Well, he was pretty sure that Jack would take the prize, as he generally does, and he fixed up this plot, never supposing that he had got hold of one of Jack's own poems."
"He always makes some stupid break like that," said Billy, "that upsets him. It takes a smart fellow to be a rogue, and Pete isn't quite smart enough. Another time when he tried to get back on Jack he made some such blunder as this, and gave himself away."
"You didn't say anything this morning?" said Arthur.
"No, for I was thinking things over. When I got to talking about it with you fellows it all came out straight."
"Well, Jack got the prize anyhow," remarked Harry, "and I don't suppose there is any use in saying anything about it. If you didn't actually catch Pete in the act and recognize him, he could easily say that he was not out of his tent that night, and Merritt would back him up."
"Yes, of course, but if he knows that I and young Smith and a lot more of the boys know it he won't put on so many frills after this;"
"No, he won't, but we don't go with him anyhow, and he bullies his own set into doing just what he wants, so that he never wants for company. You can't send him to Coventry very well, so I don't know that it will do much good to let him know that we know all about it."
"It will take down his conceit, Hal," said Arthur, "and that is one of his biggest assets. A bit of ridicule of his fine plot will take the starch out of him, and that's what he needs."
"Yes, to be sure."
The boys were in sight of the Van der Donk house by this time, but as they had no intention of calling they turned around and went back to the camp where they met Jack and his two friends just coming ashore.
"I have just heard how you got your black eye the other night, Billy," laughed Jack. "J.W., here, said he was not to tell, but we excused him under the circumstances. We came to the conclusion that you got your black eye in trying to stop Herring when he was getting out of the window of the doctor's cottage after he had put back the manuscript he had been 'fixing,' as he called it."
"That's what we think," said Harry. "Billy has just been telling us about it. We laughed at him that night, but he was cute enough to keep the thing quiet until he found out more about it."
"Harry thinks it won't do any good to expose Herring," said Arthur, "but I think it will."
"There is no especial need of it," rejoined Jack quietly.. "He has only made a stupid mistake, and done me no harm whatever, and it is really not worth while to pay any more attention to it. I shall not, at any rate."
"I am sorry he is here, anyhow," said Arthur. "He is always making a lot of trouble. The fellows don't like him and after the other day when he claimed that he thought the Rocky Hill boys were playing a trick on him, and would not go to the aid of the one who had the cramp, not only our boys, but the other fellows are sore on him, and if there are any more meets they will look out that he is not asked."
"They probably won't have any," added Percival. "They are really bound to ask the whole Academy, and so they won't ask any one. That will put an end to these meets, for they won't come up here as long as they know they will meet Herring. For my part I think he ought to be exposed, but, of course, it should be as Jack thinks. He is the one most concerned."
"He may not stay here after this," said Jack.
"He did not care to stay here in the beginning, I understand, preferring to go to some more lively place, and it is likely that he will leave after this."
"We'll wait a little and see," answered Percival. "If he goes, that will settle the matter without any trouble. However, I want to see what Brooke will have to say about that paper using your poem without his consent, and putting it under another name."
The boys went to town in Jack's boat, and called at the office of the News, where they found the editor busy as usual.
Jack had the copy of the other paper with him, and showed it to the editor, asking him if he knew anything about it.
"I don't exchange with it," Brooke said, "but some one may have seen the poem in our paper and sent it to him. I'll call him up."
There was a long-distance telephone in the office, and the editor called up the other editor, and said:
"This is Brooke of the Riverton News. How about your printing a poem last week written especially for us, and putting another name to it? The poem was called 'The Message of the Hudson.' You remember it?"
"Yes. It was written by a young lady stopping at the hotel here, and given to me."
"Oh, no, it was not. It was written by a young gentleman of the Hilltop Academy, and written especially for us, and not signed. I have his original manuscript in the office, and he is here now."
"Well, I am very sorry, but the young lady told me she wrote it, and, as I thought it was very good, I published it."
"You were right enough there, for it is good, but I have a copyright, which the young lady should have seen and respected. Will you make a correction in your next issue?"
"I certainly will, Mr. Brooke, and be glad to. You don't think that I would have published the verses had I known the truth?"
"No, I hope not. You might call the young lady's attention to the fact, while you are about it."
"I would do so gladly, but she has left town. She is making a tour of the towns in the neighborhood."
"And getting up a reputation on other persons' literary efforts," laughed Brooke. "Well, send me the paper. Sorry you were fooled that way. Take the News and you won't be again. Goodbye."
"That is the cheekiest thing I ever heard," laughed Percival, "taking a thing bodily and claiming it as your own. I should call that stealing, if I were asked about it."
"That's what it is," replied Brooke, "but it is a very common practice with some papers. Why, I had an editor show me an article of my own, and ask me if I did not think it quite clever. One of his compositors had written it, he said. I said a few things myself."
"I imagine you did!" chuckled Dick. "Well, I am glad we have settled this matter. We might not have known anything about it only for a blunder made by a fellow who has not the sense to read the News every week."
The editor looked puzzled and Percival explained briefly, Brooke laughing and adding:
"That was very funny, accusing Sheldon of plagiarizing his own stuff.I never heard anything quite so queer."
"And all on account of his not reading your paper," rejoined Percival with a wink at Jack. "You should make an editorial of this, Mr. Brooke."
"Thank you, I think maybe I will," replied the editor, beginning to peck savagely at his typewriter, and the boys left the office.
When they returned to camp after doing a few errands they were met at the landing by Billy Manners, who said with a grin:
"Well, it is settled. Pete Herring and Merritt have gone to Saratoga, so we will not be bothered with them any longer."
"Just as I thought," said Jack.