CHAPTER XI. DORY DORNWOOD CONFRONTS THE TOPOVERS.
Several groups of the students had formed on the banks of Beech Hill Lake, and were discussing the plans when the school-bell rang. They obeyed the summons, and began to think this was a queer sort of a vacation, when the principal informed them that he had forgotten something. Seeing them talking together at the lake had reminded him of the omission.
"I must exact a promise from each student that the plan he offers is wholly his own work," said Captain Gildrock. "There must be no conversation, conference, or comparison among you, and no student must show his plan to another, or tell another what it is. All of you who assent to this, and make this promise, will signify it by standing."
All the boys rose and remained standing. Some of them asked a lot of questions as usual, but in a few minutes the whole matter was perfectly understood.
"Under these conditions we shall have to stay in our rooms all the time," said Dave Windsor; and the remark created a laugh, for it looked as though the competitors for the prizes were to be prisoners as well as the rebels.
"You can do your work where you please. The schoolroom, the workshop, the grove, are open to you, as well as your rooms," replied the principal. "I consider that each pupil is put on honor not to look at the work of another. Before the prizes are awarded I shall ask each one if the plan is wholly his own idea, and I shall be willing to take his word for it."
"Then everything must be original, must it?" asked Bolly Millweed. "If we have seen an arrangement of doors or windows we like in a hotel or church, we must not use it."
"Not at all," answered Captain Gildrock, a little impatiently. "If you have ideas, they belong to you though you did not originate them. I simply insist that you shall not use one another's ideas. I don't expect you to originate many if any new ideas in architecture and engineering; only to combine old ones for the particular structure we have in view. I only ask you to do what any old farmer would do if he wanted to put up a set of farm buildings; and he would not go near an architect or civil engineer, though it might pay him to do so."
"I understand it now," said Dave.
"I hope you all understand it; but if there are any questions to be asked it must be done now, for not one will be considered after I dismiss you this time. You may use any of the boats on Beech Hill Lake during the next three days without further permission."
The boys were ashamed to ask any more questions, and they left the schoolroom. They were not to talk together about the plans, and they separated outside the door, each to make his examination of the shores of the little lake by himself. In a few minutes they were scattered all along the border of the lake and creek, each one carefully avoiding all the others; for, under the skilful training of Captain Gildrock, each one had come to regard his honor as the apple of his eye.
Of course there were some of the boys who had no more idea of the making of a plan or the fitness of a locality for the boat-house than they had of the erection of a Chinese pagoda; and the principal hardly expected that more than half a dozen plans of the building and as many of the location would be submitted. But he knew that the study given by the pupils to the subject would be worth more than the prize to them.
It was rather amusing to see some of them making so serious a matter of the plans, but probably every one of them thought he could select the best location for the wharf and boat-house, even if he could not make a mark towards the plan of the structure. Many of them seated themselves under the trees in view of the lake, with paper and pencil in hand, as though they had begun to make the rough sketches of the plan.
By the middle of the forenoon it was clear that some of the students had got their ideas in working order, for they went to the schoolroom, and began to make sketches on brown paper. But others were not satisfied with the limited survey they had made of the lake, and wished to visit the other side. Though the creek was narrow, there was no bridge on the Beech Hill grounds, and it was too wide to be leaped over. Mat Randolph proposed that they should go over in the barges. All hands were called, and they assented to the plan.
When they were seated in the boats, with only nine oarsmen in each, it was decided to make a trip around the lake, in order to examine the shore from the water side. At the head of the lake, in the rear of the shop and schoolroom, was a rocky hill rising to the height of about a hundred feet in the loftiest place. The rocks rose perpendicularly from the lake, and the water was four feet deep alongside of them.
Bolingbroke Millweed was earnest and critical in his survey of these rocks, though hardly another of the party paid any attention to them. Probably most of them thought it was the most unsuitable place on the lake for the boat-house and wharf, though it was nearer to the mansion and schoolroom than the present wharf, where the barges were moored.
The two boats pulled with a gentle stroke around the lake, stopping at several points for a more careful survey. If any one had any brilliant ideas he was as silent as Beech Hill itself, at the head of the lake. This was the name of the elevation in the rear of the schoolroom, and the estate, the lake, and the institution had been called after it.
Beech Hill Lake extended north and south within a quarter of a mile of Porter's Bay, an inlet of Lake Champlain. Between the little lake and the bay there was a beautiful grove, which was one of the most delightful resorts on the shipmaster's estate. He had intended to build a bridge across the creek, back of Beech Hill; but an attempt had been made to rob his house by a couple of New York burglars, who had landed at the head of the bay, and crossed the lake in a boat which had formerly been kept on the other side.
The idea of constructing: a bridge had been given up after this attempt, but a small pier had been built near the inlet of the creek, for convenience in landing from boats at the grove. The barges went to this little wharf, and the crews landed, and separated, each to pursue his studies by himself. All of them made a careful examination of the west shore of the lake.
When he had finished his survey, Dory Dornwood seated himself under a tree not far from the pier. He did not seem to think he had any talent for architecture or civil engineering, and he had not a very strong hope of winning either of the prizes. The fact that he was the founder's nephew would not affect the matter in any way, for each competitor was to put only a word or character on his work, which was also to be written on an envelope containing his name. The examiners, whoever they were, were not to know whose plan they were considering.
While Dory was contemplating the shores of the lake, and making up his mind in regard to the best place for the wharf, he heard voices in the direction of the pier. Looking that way, he saw a squad of boys on the little wharf. Their attention was fixed upon the two barges, which they were examining with interest, not to say enthusiasm.
Genverres had its proportion of bad boys as well as good ones, and Dory recognized these visitors to the grove as belonging to the former class. He had not been in the town long enough to have any acquaintance with them, and hardly knew them by sight; but his uncle had pointed out a couple of them whom he suspected of stealing fruit from his garden. In fact he had suffered so much from the depredations of fruit-thieves, that he had taken extensive and expensive precautions to keep them out of his grounds.
The captain had built a fence ten feet high from the main road to the creek; the latter being considered a sufficient barrier on the west side of the estate. The grove could easily be reached, but the grounds on the east side of Beech Hill Lake were now well protected. Dory saw that the leading spirit of the squad of visitors was Tom Topover, a reckless young rascal of sixteen or seventeen, who had made himself a terror to the farmers on the outskirts of the town, as well as to many peaceable citizens in the village.
The presence of the "Topovers," as they had come to be called, after their leader, boded no good to the boats, for the squad were free-and-easy fellows, who had no more regard for the rights of property than they had for the cleanliness of their faces and their garments. Dory Dornwood knew how easy it was to get up a quarrel with this class of young ruffians, and he did not think it was wise to go near them; but he thought it was best to show himself, so that they might not be tempted to meddle with the barges by the supposition that they were not seen. He began to walk about where he could not fail to be observed by the visitors.
Dory looked all around him through the grove, but he could see only a few of the other students. Doubtless they were all absorbed in the study of the plan and location, for not a sound could be heard except the dashing of the water against the rocks in the creek above the lake.
He and Matt Randolph had each a boatswain's whistle, used in calling the boats' crews when they were separated, as in the present instance. Its shrill pipe could be heard at least half a mile in a still day; but the coxswain of the Winooski hoped he should have no occasion to use it. The Topovers had seen him, and probably some of the other students, and must know that the crews of both boats were in the grove, or the barges would not be at the wharf.
He watched the visitors very closely, but they manifested no disposition, so far, to meddle with the boats. They were looking at them, and made them the subject of a great deal of animated conversation. Dory could not blame them for being delighted with the barges, and the fact they were pleased was an evidence that they had some good taste. But presently he saw four of them walking towards him. They came in a direct line, and the coxswain had no doubt they had something to say to him. One of them was Tom Topover; another was Kidd Digfield; the two whom the captain had indicated as the plunderers of his garden. He did not know the names of the other two.
"Hullo, Dory!" called Tom Topover, when the party came within hailing distance of him, "Them's tip-top boats you've got down there."
"They are very fine boats," replied Dory.
"I s'pose you fellers have big times in 'em," continued Tom, as he and his companions halted in front of the coxswain.
"We have first-rate times in them," answered Dory, with a pleasant smile, for he was very careful that there should be nothing exasperating in his conduct, and he had learned that one's manner of saying anything could be very provoking, even when nothing offensive was uttered.
"You ain't usin' them boats now: won't you let me and the fellers take a little turn in 'em on the pond?" Tom Topover proceeded with as much assurance as though he was making only a reasonable request, as he evidently believed it was.
Dory felt that he had no more right to lend one of the boats than he had to loan one of his uncle's shirts; and he saw the beginning of trouble in the request.