A little later found the Rover boys, accompanied by half a dozen of their friends, bound for Colby Hall. It was rather late, and they hurried along with all possible speed.
“No parade before supper, for which I am thankful,” remarked Jack.
“And supper is to be half an hour late,” added Randy.
“And best of all, no studying to-night,” broke in Andy. “Oh, my! but won’t we have some fun!”
“We’ve got to catch Codfish, Andy. Don’t forget that,” put in Randy.
“Forget it!” answered the fun-loving Rover. “Why, you couldn’t make me forget it for a million dollars. That boy is going to have a lesson he’ll remember as long as he lives. Every time I think how he exploded that bag of soot on us I get madder than ever.”
“And after all we did for him when those bullies were misusing him!” came from Jack. “He certainly is a pill and then some!”
“Just the same, I suppose we’ve got to be careful that we don’t get into any hot water,” remarked Fred soberly. “We can’t afford to injure our reputations as officers, Jack.”
“Why can’t you two officers leave this whole affair to Randy and me?” questioned Andy. “You just go off and forget all about it and take in what happens.”
“I’ll see about that,” answered the young major. He realized the point his cousin was trying to make and yet he was angry enough to give the sneak a sound thrashing.
The boys had walked on a distance of a quarter of a mile and were coming out along the lake front when suddenly Spouter, who was walking ahead with Dan Soppinger, uttered an exclamation.
“Look down there at the dock!” he cried. “Looks like a fight going on!”
“That’s what it is!” exclaimed Gif.
“Why, it’s Tommy Flanders and his crowd and they are beating up old Nat Durgin!” came quickly from Fred.
“I’ll bet they got into a row about hiring that motor-boat,” remarked Andy. “Let’s go down and see what happens.”
“They have no right to beat up poor old Durgin,” returned Jack. “He’s not a half-bad sort, even though he is rather lazy.”
The crowd of cadets hurried their steps and soon came closer to the scene of the quarrel. They had seen Tommy Flanders strike the old man in the face, and now Nat Durgin responded with a blow on the shoulder. Then Flanders jumped in, followed by Billy Sands and Paul Halliday, and the three boys from Longley Academy bore the old boatman to the ground.
“Stop that!” cried Jack. “Let up on him!” He had leaped to the front and caught Tommy Flanders by the arm. Almost at the same instant Gif and Spouter grabbed Sands and Halliday.
“Take ’em off! Take ’em off!” cried old Durgin. He was all but winded by his exertions. Evidently the quarrel had been going on for some time.
“Huh! what do you want here, Jack Rover?” demanded Tommy Flanders sullenly. “You keep your hands out of this!”
“You let Durgin alone, Flanders,” answered the young major.
“What’s the meaning of the row, anyhow?” demanded Gif.
“You’re a fine bunch of cadets to pile on an old man three at a time!” sneered Spouter.
The three boys from Longley Academy looked anything but comfortable as they saw themselves surrounded by the crowd from Colby Hall. They stepped back from where Nat Durgin lay, and Randy and Dan Soppinger assisted the old boatman to his feet. Near by was Durgin’s pipe, and Ned Lowe picked this up and gave it to him.
“I’ll have the law on you for this, you see if I don’t!” roared Durgin, now that he saw that friends were at hand. “I’ll teach you young whelps to knock me down!”
“You hit me first,” retorted Flanders. “Don’t forget that! I’ve got my friends to prove it!”
“So I did hit you first,” answered Durgin readily. “And you deserved it too—wanting to break up that last shell race!”
“Did he really try to break up that race?” questioned Gif eagerly. “I saw him at the wheel of your motor-boat when we were on the homestretch.”
“That’s what he did!”
“It’s not so!” blustered Flanders.
“It is so! He wanted to steer the boat and I told him I’d do it. Then he shoved me aside and grabbed the wheel and steered right for your shell. Then I slapped him in the face, turned off the power, and steered my boat away from the course. A whole lot of people on the other boats saw it.”
“That was a fine piece of business, Flanders!” said Gif contemptuously. “A fine piece of business, trying to spoil our chance to win! You ought to be hooted out of Longley Academy for it.”
“Oh, say, Garrison, don’t get so smart,” put in Paul Halliday. “Tommy wasn’t going to run into your shell, or anything like it. He simply wanted to get close so he could see what was going on. All the boats were crowding in.”
“I don’t want anything from you, Halliday. I’ve got your number, and always have had,” returned the cadet who was at the head of the Colby Hall athletic committee, and who had been the coxswain of the eight. “I know you thoroughly.”
“We don’t belong at Colby Hall any more, and you’ve got no right to say anything to us,” remarked Billy Sands.
“Well, we’ll take the right when you knock down a man as you did Durgin,” came from Spouter.
“They haven’t paid me for the use of my boat, either,” complained the old boatman. “That’s what started the row here. They said they would pay me right after the races.”
“I’ll bet I know why they didn’t pay up,” broke out Andy, with a grin. “Most likely they lost all their pocket money betting the wrong way.”
“Hi, you shut up, Rover! You make me sick!” cried Tommy Flanders, glaring at Andy sullenly.
A wordy war followed, lasting several minutes. Then Nat Durgin walked to where his motor-boat was tied up and sprang aboard the craft.
“You fellows pay me what you owe me or I’ll have the law on you,” he called out, and then he added to the boys from Colby Hall: “Much obliged to you fellows for what you done for me.”
“Hi! Wait!” cried Halliday. “You’ve got to take us across the lake!”
“I won’t take you nowhere,” bellowed Nat Durgin. “I’m done with you! But you’ve got to pay me what you owe me or I’ll do what I said before—I’ll have the law on you,” and with this parting shot he started up his motor and moved slowly away.
“Now see what you did!” cried Billy Sands in anger, as he faced the Colby Hall cadets. “How are we going to get back to school? All the other boats have left.”
“That’s your affair, not ours,” answered Jack. And then he continued as he stepped closer to the trio of discontents. “My cousins and I ought to give the whole three of you a sound thrashing.”
“We know what you got Codfish Stowell to do,” broke in Andy. “Some day we’ll square that account, and don’t you forget it!”
“Hi! you fellows make me tired,” grumbled Flanders, and then he moved off, followed by his cronies. At a safe distance he turned around and shook his fist at the Colby Hall cadets. “You just wait! I’ll get square some day!”
“Gee! what a meek and innocent little lamb he is,” was Spouter’s comment, as the boys hurried for the Hall.
“Say,” put in Phil Franklin, who was in the crowd but who had taken no part in the discussion with their rivals, “did they get Codfish to play that trick on you?”
“Yes, if you must know it,” answered Randy.
“But don’t let Codfish know about this,” broke in Andy quickly. “He thinks his secret is safe. We just learned about it during this afternoon and we want to surprise him.”
“All right, then, mum’s the word,” returned Phil, and the others said the same.
On account of the incident at the lakeshore the boys were somewhat late in reaching the Hall. Snopper Duke, one of the professors, frowned a little at this, but otherwise no comment was made. It was felt that this was a festival night and that the cadets ought to be allowed to do very much as they pleased.
In anticipation of a possible victory a number of the boys had collected a mass of boxes and barrels and other wood for fires, and shortly after the evening meal these beacons began to blaze along the shore of the Rick Rack. In the meantime the cadets donned their old uniforms and then one after another came forth to shout and sing and cut up generally.
“After such a victory they deserve a good time,” was Colonel Colby’s comment. The master of the school had not forgotten his own good times while he had been a cadet at Putnam Hall. “Let the boys cut loose, Captain Dale, so long as they don’t do any real harm.”
Of course, “Shout” Plunger, the school janitor, who was very deaf and who had to be shouted at in order to hear, came in for quite some horseplay, as did also Bob Nixon and Si Crews. Shout was made to stand on a box and sing, which he did in a queer cracked voice that brought forth roars of laughter. Bob Nixon had to tell a funny story. He had been warned that he might be made to do this, so had prepared himself by digesting the contents of an old joke book, and therefore got off a number of jokes that most of the boys had heard a dozen times.
“Now then, everybody in a grand march!” cried Dan Soppinger gayly, and then the cadets began what they called a serpentine hop, which consisted of a long line of cadets winding in and out around the bonfires and the trees on the edge of the parade ground. A few had torches, and others musical instruments consisting of banjos, ukuleles, mouth harmonicas, cornets, tin horns, clappers and various other things more or less melodious.
Henry Stowell was standing somewhat apart from those who were taking part in the serpentine hop when suddenly he found himself seized from behind and somebody whispered in his ear.
“One of the professors wants to see you up in your room right away, Stowell,” said the person behind him. “Don’t delay! It’s very important.” Then before the sneak could turn around to see who had delivered the message the unknown person had slipped behind a nearby tree and disappeared in the darkness.
“What can they want of me now?” murmured Codfish to himself. “I haven’t been doing anything.” Then he heaved a sigh. “Maybe I’ll be called down for being seen in company with Flanders and those two cadets who left Colby to go to Longley. It was a mistake for me to be seen with those chaps; but I wanted my money. If it’s that I’ll tell the professor Flanders owes me five dollars. He can’t find fault with me for wanting it back.”
Leaving the river front, Stowell hurried into the school, which was now practically deserted, the other cadets being out at the celebration and many of the professors and the others watching proceedings. He sped up the broad stairway and through the corridor and then opened the door to his own room. He had expected that the room would be lit up, and he was surprised to find it in darkness.
“Hello! Anybody here?” he questioned abruptly.
Codfish had scarcely spoken when the door slammed shut behind him, cutting out nearly all the light coming from the corridor. Then, of a sudden, the sneak found himself caught from behind and something was clapped over his mouth so that he could not utter any outcry. His assailants said not a word, but bound his hands behind him and then fixed a gag in his mouth so that he could breathe but could not utter a word. Then he heard the door locked, and a moment later the lights in the room were turned on and Codfish saw a sight that almost froze the blood in his veins.