CHAPTER XVIII. DORY DORNWOOD DEALS IN MORAL COURAGE.
Wash Barker, the former coxswain of the Racer, had resigned his office partly because he declined to adopt a policy as vigorous as his followers desired. Probably his successor possessed the qualities which Wash lacked. Jeff Monroe had seen the Dasher cheated out of her prey, as he regarded it, and he knew he was sure to be condemned by his associates if he failed to capture the Winooski.
Nim Splugger was in the barge with him, and this worthy assured the coxswain that Dory would not dare to run into him. It was all bully in his opinion. The crew expressed their disapprobation in very emphatic terms at the weakness of Mad Twinker in allowing himself to be cheated out of his game.
The Goldwing had been obliged to beat up to the position of the Winooski, and her approach was not so appalling as when she neared the Dasher. But she had gone well to windward so as to get a good full, and she was making at least eight knots when she came within hailing distance of the Racer. Dory gave the same warning as before, and repeated it several times. But the Racer did not budge. Her crew were all ready to leap into the Winooski.
Dory had fully made up his mind to smash the Racer. A collision would certainly accomplish her destruction. It was probable that the Goldwing would bear the barge under her bottom, and thus go over her. The coxswain and all his crew were very ignorant in regard to the management of a boat, and could not realize the peril to which they were exposing themselves.
Probably most of the crew of the Racer could not swim, and, even if they could, some of them might be seriously injured if the schooner went over the barge. There was more than a possibility that one or more lives might be lost in the encounter. The skipper of the Goldwing shuddered when he thought of such a catastrophe. At the worst, the Chesterfields could only capture the Winooski; and that would not kill or hurt anyone. It was not a case of life and death; in fact it was nothing more than a frolic on the part of the Chesterfields.
In another instant the Goldwing would strike the Racer, and the calamity the skipper dreaded must come, either in whole or in part. If he "backed down," Oscar would laugh at him, and his other companions would rail at him for timidity. But Dory had the moral courage to brave any censure or sarcasm rather than expose the lives of the enemy.
"Down with the helm, Matt!" shouted he with startling energy.
Matt promptly obeyed, and the sails of the schooner shook in the wind.
"What did you do that for, Dory?" demanded Oscar Chester, utterly disgusted at the backing down of the skipper.
But there was no time to answer the question. Instead of striking the Racer, the Goldwing was struck by the barge on her broadside. But the blow came at an angle of about forty-five degrees, and the stem slid off by the stern. Still it was a hard rap, and the yacht shook under its force. Doubtless her side was dented and scraped, but she sustained no injury of any consequence.
"Keep your places, fellows!" yelled Jeff Monroe, as the rowers began to stand up and think how they should save themselves, for they thought the barge was smashed in the collision. "We are all right! Keep your places!"
The Racer was not injured, but she was thrown from her course, and brought up with her stern alongside the schooner. Two of her spoon oars were broken, and two more of them lost overboard, for all the starboard oars had been swept from the rowlocks by the contact with the yacht. The crew were in utter confusion, for their discipline was not proof against such a scene as that which had just transpired.
"Do you mean to drown us all?" demanded Jeff. "You have made a pretty mess of it."
"You act as though you intended to drown yourself and your crew," replied Dory, as he directed Matt to fill away again.
"We shall get even with you yet!" retorted Jeff angrily.
The barge had come about, so that she was now in the trough of the sea, though the waves were not heavy; but the motion served to increase the confusion on board of her. The crew obeyed the order of the coxswain to keep their seats for the simple reason that they could not stand up in the rolling craft. In a few minutes Jeff had brought something like order out of the snarl.
The discipline on board proved to be not more than skin deep, for about every one of the crew had something to say, and a general jaw ensued. Some of them blamed and scolded their coxswain, and hard words were used before the Goldwing was out of hearing distance. The first business, when the grumblers had "talked out," was to pick up the oars and the pieces; and, by the time this was done, the Winooski was out in the heaviest of the sea. The Goldwing stood off and on between the fleet she was protecting and the barges of the Chesterfields. The Dasher had gone to the assistance of the Racer.
"What under the canopy made you back down, Dory?" asked Oscar, in a more gentlemanly tone than he had used before when he alluded to the subject.
"If one of those fellows had been drowned, I should not have forgiven myself to my dying day," replied Dory.
"There was no danger of drowning any of them," added Oscar.
"I don't believe many of them can swim, and I think the Goldwing would have gone over the Racer. Some of them might have been disabled, so that they could not have swum, even if they had known how. In a word my conscience would not let me run into the barge when it came to the scratch. Though we may look upon the taking of any of our boats as a serious thing, after all it was only a frolic on the part of the Topovers and the Chesterfields. I could not risk killing or drowning a single one of them. That's the whole of it."
"It would not have been your fault if one of them had been drowned, or even half a dozen of them," replied Oscar.
"I think it would have been. If no one had been drowned or hurt in the collision, some people would have thought we were smart. If a single life had been lost, they would have said that the affair was nothing but a boys' frolic, and that we had no right to proceed to such an extreme measure as running into the barge half a mile from the shore," argued Dory. "Those fellows are not used to the water, and half a dozen of them might have been drowned. I am perfectly satisfied now with what I did."
"Though I was as much carried away by the excitement of the moment as any of you, and was in favor of running into the barge, I think you did just right, Dory," added Matt Randolph, convinced by the skipper's logic.
"On cool second thought, I am willing to admit that Dory was right," said Oscar, as he glanced at the Chesterfield fleet. "We saved the Winooski after all, and that was what we were fighting for."
"Those fellows have had enough of it for the present," chuckled Matt. "They are pulling for the point where we landed Tom Topover, and very likely they are going to pick him up."
"But we have no further business over here, and we will go home," said Dory; and Matt headed the Goldwing for the mouth of the river.
"The Chesterfields will never be content to leave things as they are now," suggested Oscar. "I know if I were one of them I should try to get even with you."
"By and by they will learn to row a boat in a sea, and know something about handling their craft; and then they will make a visit to Beech Hill," added Matt.
"I think we shall be able to take care of ourselves," replied Dory, shrugging his shoulders like a Frenchman.
"It looks as though they had formed an alliance with the Topovers, and I am confident that Tom will never be satisfied until he has had a fight with Dory and been thoroughly whipped," prophesied Oscar, who was sure that the skipper could do it "every time."
With the fresh breeze the four row-boats made good time across the lake, and were going into the river when the Goldwing dashed past them. This time Matt brought the schooner up to the wharf without getting aground; but at the V point, Dory gave him the bearings by which he steered through this bad place with the current, and was confident that his friend would never stick there again when he had any kind of fair play.
Captain Gildrock, with the instructors, were on the wharf when the Goldwing arrived. The news of the taking of the boats by the Topovers had been circulated in the town, and the principal was somewhat disturbed by the occurrence, not especially by the stealing of the barges, but more by his fears of what might result from a battle between the students and the marauders. When Bates, who had learned the particulars from Mr. Jepson, told him that Dory Dornwood was in command of the expedition which had gone out to recover the boats, he was somewhat relieved of his anxiety; for he had a great deal of confidence in the skipper's judgment and discretion, though there was no knowing what boys would do when they were excited.
"Where are the boats, Dornwood?" asked Captain Gildrock, as soon as the party landed.
"They are coming up the river, sir," replied Dory.
"And where are Tom Topover and his gang?"
"We left them on the other side of the lake." Dory proceeded, without any further questions, to make his report of the taking of the barges, and the means by which he had recovered possession of them. He stated the facts just as they were, without flourish or ornament, even to the intention they had of smashing the Racer by running into her.
"I am heartily rejoiced that you did not do anything of that kind!" exclaimed Captain Gildrock, with a considerable show of emotion for him. "Nothing could have justified you in resorting to such a desperate measure, unless it was to save life or honor. If one of those boys had lost his life, it would have been the ruin of the Beech Hill Industrial School; for popular opinion would have set against us, and we could not have stemmed the tide."
"I was terribly excited when I thought of doing it," pleaded Dory.
"You have done well, my lad; you have behaved splendidly; but the biggest and best thing you have done was to renounce a bad intention," added the principal, earnestly. "I cannot look upon this affair as anything more than a boys' racket, and I am exceedingly thankful that no catastrophe has come out of it."
"Should you excuse the Topovers for stealing the boat on the ground that it was nothing but a racket, a frolic, something done for the fun of it?" asked Matt Randolph very seriously.
"By no means; I would prosecute them for stealing the boats if it were likely to result in anything but a fine which their poor parents would have to pay," replied the captain. "No one should do wrong for the fun of it; but there is such a thing as exaggerating a serious matter beyond its proper proportions."
The arrival of the boats ended the conversation. Dinner was ready, and everything proceeded at the institution in its usual order. The rebels each dined alone in his room.