CHAPTER XIII. A VICTORY FOR THE TOPOVERS.
Dory Dornwood reached the wharf too late to prevent the ruffians from getting off in the boats; and his failure filled him with consternation. It was not for a few minutes, as Tom Topover had said, that the ruffians wanted them, but for all day, or for a week or a month, if they were not sooner taken from them. Living on the river and near the lake, such fellows would naturally take to the water, and all or most of them knew how to handle an oar, but not one of them could be called a skilful boatman, though Kidd Digfield claimed to be a sailor on the ground that he had made two trips in a lumber schooner.
Even if the Topovers were competent to handle a common row-boat, it was quite another thing to manage a barge fifty feet long, pulled by twelve oars. If they succeeded in getting the boats out of the river, they were likely to swamp them in the waves, smash them on the rocks, or grind their cedar bottoms on the gravelly beaches. Dory had a genuine affection for the Winooski, and it grieved him sorely to see her in the hands of such a villainous crew as the Topovers.
Of course there was nothing to be done at Beech Hill until the barges were recovered. The wind was northwest and blowing fresh, as on the day before, and it was dangerous for an unskilful crew to venture out on the lake. The lives of the reckless party would be in peril as well as the boats.
Dory had but a few moments to consider the matter. Matt Randolph and Oscar Chester were near him, out of breath after the run they had made. Tom Topover had retreated to the shore of the pond; and the coxswain of the Winooski, not wishing to engage in a fight, had neglected to follow him. Nim Splugger had taken command of the Gildrock, and Kidd Digfield of the Winooski. They had made sure to put a couple of lengths between the barges and the wharf, and in this position they were as safe from any interference of the boys on shore as though they had been in the middle of the lake.
There was no boat at the grove, and no means of pursuing the captors of the barges. In fact, nothing at all could be done, and for the moment the situation looked hopeless to the coxswains. Kidd proceeded to give directions to his crew as soon as the immediate danger of capture was passed. Taking the tiller-lines himself, he brought something like order out of the confusion in his crew. After a great deal of sharp talk, he succeeded in getting his fellows so that they could pull a stroke together, and the Winooski slowly moved towards the lower end of the lake.
Kidd could not help seeing the chief Topover on the shore, and as soon as his crew were in working order, he headed to the point where he stood. Dory immediately observed the change in the course of the Winooski, and understood the purpose of her present coxswain, which was to take Tom on board. By this time Matt and Oscar were as near the spot where Tom was waiting for the boat as Dory was.
"Head them off!" shouted Dory, as he started at the top of his speed.
"Pull lively, fellers!" yelled Kidd Digfield, when he saw the three students running towards his leader.
They did pull with all their might, and as the Winooski was bound to go ahead when the oars crossed her gunwale, she was too much for the runners on the shore. Dory hoped one of the clumsy oarsmen would "catch a crab" at that important moment, but not one of them gratified his desire. He was within a couple of rods of Tom, and was all ready to pitch into him, when Kidd ordered his crew to stop rowing, and then to back water.
The inexperienced coxswain had not calculated well, and the boat lost her headway when her sharp bow was within ten feet of the shore. Dory's hopes swelled when he saw the boat come to a stand, and he increased his speed.
"Pull again!" shouted Kidd, almost crazy with excitement, when he realized that he was losing the game.
But his undisciplined crew were in confusion, and only half of them could bring their oars to bear. The barge went ahead again just as Dory was about to pounce on Tom Topover. The leader of the ruffians saw his peril, and he did not seem to be "spoiling for a fight" at just that moment, perhaps because his late victim had been reinforced by a couple of his companions. He had not another instant to spare, and Tom made a vigorous leap for the bow of the Winooski.
The stem of the barge was not more than three or four feet distant when the Topover made his leap, but the pointed bow was an ugly foundation to strike upon. He could not throw his body into the fore sheets, but he succeeded in grasping the gunwale with both hands, while the lower half of his body went into the water. Unfortunately the force of his blow had been imparted to the forward part of the barge, and it had been shoved farther away from the shore.
Tom Topover dragged himself into the Winooski. Seizing a boathook, he stood up in the bow of the boat, evidently intending to use it in case of need in defending himself from an attack of his pursuers. The two coxswains reached the shore with their wind about gone, to find that ten feet of deep water lay between them and the nearest part of the Winooski. They could leap into the water and swim to her, and Oscar Chester proposed to do so; but this would have been folly, for the ruffians could easily beat them off with their oars and the boathooks.
Nim Splugger, who had assumed the command of the Gildrock, did not claim to be a sailor, though he had often pulled an oar. He lacked confidence in his own ability, and was therefore not so imperative in his orders as Kidd. The boat was clear of the wharf, and he took time to arrange his crew at the oars. Before he could get them into working order, their attention was attracted to Tom and the movements of the Winooski. They rested on their oars, watching the issue of the affair near the shore.
"Now, back her, fellers!" yelled Kidd Digfield, as soon as he saw that Tom was in the boat.
"No, you don't back her, Kidd!" roared Tom Topover. "That ain't no way to do it! Pull on this side," and the leader pointed to the starboard side; "back on t'other!"
Tom was right, if he did not claim to be a sailor, and Kidd was wrong, for backing her would only have sent the barge along parallel with the shore, with the chances of a deviation which would have thrown the stern within reach of the students on shore. Tom called his disciples by name, and told each one what to do. Kidd took in his captain's idea, and helped him with his words. Under their united directions, the head of the Winooski was thrown around, and she was forced out into the lake.
"I hain't done with you yet, Dory," yelled Tom, shaking his fist at the proper coxswain of the barge. "Afore you are a week older I'll give you the biggest lickin' you ever got in your life. I'll crack half the bones in your body! I'll mash your head till you won't know it from a last year's punkin!"
"You had better bring those boats back before you get into hot water," replied Dory, more in grief than in anger. "Let me tell you that you are stealing them, and Captain Gildrock will haul you up before the court for it."
"Shut up, you monkey milksop! When we've done with the boats we'll set 'em a-fire!" returned Tom.
"I can't stand this! I shall boil over!" exclaimed Oscar Chester. "I should like to get near enough to that scallawag to pitch into him."
"Keep cool, Oscar," said Dory. "We can't do anything just now, and it's no use to boil over."
"What makes that fellow so down on you, Dory?" asked Matt Randolph. "He didn't say anything to Oscar and me."
"Perhaps I gave him reason to be down upon me, though I only defended myself. I knocked him over when he tried to stop me from reaching the wharf," answered the coxswain of the Winooski. "If I had only got among those ruffians half a minute sooner, I might have saved the boats, though I should have had to stand up against the whole of them."
Matt wanted to know more about the affair, and Dory told all that had happened since he first saw the Topovers. By the time his fellow coxswain had heard the story, the rest of the two crews began to arrive. They could see for themselves why they had been summoned so soon. Tom had taken possession of the stern-sheets of the Winooski, and sent Kidd to one of the vacant thwarts to row. The ruffians were struggling with the oars, for, though they had the strength, they were utterly lacking in discipline and knowledge. But they pulled with some degree of unanimity, and the Winooski went ahead at a very moderate rate. The Gildrock was doing better than her consort, for Nim Splugger did not confuse his crew with too many orders, and each one got the hang of the oar in his own way.
Both boats were moving, and were headed towards the outlet of the lake. Their regular crews at the grove could only look on, for they were powerless to raise a finger to recover the boats at present. One after another suggested various experiments for demolishing the Topovers, but their schemes were either foolish or impracticable. Oscar Chester wanted to run down to the narrowest place on the outlet, and make an attack on the marauders; but both Matt and Dory were not in favor of such a plan.
"If we get desperate, and try to break things, those villains will smash the boats rather than let us get them. That Tom Topover is as mad as a March hare at the rap Dory gave him," said Matt.
"I think we had better report to Captain Gildrock, for I don't see that we can do anything here," suggested Dory, as he gazed sadly at the retreating barges.
"We can't even get over to Beech Hill," added Luke Bennington, as he glanced across the lake at the school grounds.
"We must go around by the road, and it is over a mile," added Pemberton Millweed.
"It seems to me that somebody on the other side must have seen what was going on," said Matt.
"I don't think anyone has seen what was going on," replied Dory. "Bates is on duty in the dormitory, the teachers are attending to their own affairs, and probably Captain Gildrock is in the house. If any of them saw the boats going down the lake, they were too far off to know who were in them. If my uncle knew anything about this business, he would have sent a boat over before this time."
"If we had been in any mischief, half a dozen of them would have seen us," said Thad Glovering, with a laugh.
"It's no use to stay here, and we may as well walk around by the road and report to Captain Gildrock," added Dory.
This was considered the best thing to do, and in half an hour they arrived at the school grounds on the other side of the lake. No one knew anything of what had happened on the other side of the water. They could not find the principal about the place; and at last one of the stablemen said he had gone to the village with Mrs. Dornwood in the buggy.
Mr. Jepson, the master machinist, was the only instructor they could find about the premises, and he agreed with Dory and Matt that something should be done at once.