CHAPTER XXII. AN INVITATION TO SANDY POINT.
"I should like to hand these fellows over to you, Captain Gildrock," said Bissell, hailing the principal. "We have tied their hands behind them, and they won't set the lake on fire just yet."
"I should like to know something more about the case. Will you send Bristol on board to report to me?" replied Captain Gildrock. "Mr. Wolfenden, of Westport, is on board, and will join you in the boat."
"Wolfenden! Why, he is the deputy sheriff!" exclaimed Bissell. "I guess he is the very man we want."
"Mr. Bulfington is also on board," added the principal.
"Perhaps both of us had better go on board of the Silver Moon," said Mr. Wolfenden, for both he and Bulfington, who was a constable, were in the pilot-house.
"I should like to have one of you remain and hear the statement of Bristol, upon whom this outrage has been perpetrated," added Captain Gildrock. "As Bulfington is the constable, perhaps he had better remain."
The deputy sheriff was satisfied to let it be so, and he went on board of the sloop. The two officers had been down to Port Henry on official business, and, manifesting quite an interest in the Sylph, the principal had invited them to take passage to Westport in her. As the officer went on board of the sloop, Paul left her, and hastened to the pilot-house.
"Well, Bristol, it seems that you did not see the last of the trouble at Sandy Point yesterday," said the principal, bestowing a look of kindness and sympathy upon the new pupil. "Your face looks as though you had had a hard time of it to-day."
"The toughest time I have had yet, but not so tough as it would have been if Mr. Bissell had not stood by me, and got me out of the scrape. We did him a good turn this forenoon, and he did not forget it," replied Paul.
"I am glad to see you, Paul," added Mr. Bulfington, taking him by the hand. "It is about time the pranks of those students should come to an end; and I think the people of Westport have had about enough of them."
"What service did you render to Mr. Bissell?" asked Captain Gildrock.
"It is rather a long story, sir;" but Paul proceeded to relate it in full, and he soon found that both of his auditors were deeply interested in it.
"My daughter was one of the six girls," said Mr. Bulfington, when the spare hand had finished his narrative. "I am sure I owe the boys a debt of gratitude which I shall never expect to discharge."
Paul then gave the particulars of the assault upon him very minutely, and described the events which had followed his capture up to the present moment.
"It would have gone terribly hard with you, Paul, if Major Billcord had got you over to the point, for there is no more reason or mercy in him than there is in a fighting bulldog," added the constable. "He has got money enough to pay all damages, and he would not mind a thousand or two if he got his revenge in full."
"These boys must have been employed to capture Bristol," said the principal, whose face was flashed with indignation. "Mrs. Bristol this morning gave her son into my charge, and he shall not be abused while he is in my care."
"What do you intend to do about it, Captain Gildrock?" asked Mr. Bulfington.
"I shall prosecute the ruffians first; and if I can prove that Major Billcord employed them to assault my pupil, I will prosecute him," replied the captain.
The principal went to the side and had a brief talk with Bissell. It was arranged that the skipper should convey the boys to Westport, the constable going with him. Mr. Wolfenden returned to the steamer, and instructed the captain in the proper method of procedure in the court.
Bissell lost no time in getting under way. The ruffians were utterly crestfallen when they understood that they were to be prosecuted for the outrage upon Paul. Very likely Colonel Buckmill and the magnate would choose to regard it as a mere lark, a little wildness, on the part of the students, which ought to be passed over without any appeal to the courts.
Before this time the Beech Hill barges had come to the side of the Sylph. The Chesterfield barges had given the steamer a wide berth. They were close up to the shore, and were pulling in the direction of Sandy Point. Major Billcord could not help seeing his minions on board of the sailboat, and to suspect that they had come to grief; but he could not prevail on the coxswains to go near any of the craft from the other side of the lake.
Paul remained on board of the Sylph, for his evidence was needed in Westport in getting out the warrant for the arrest of the ruffians. The principal gave no orders of any kind to the commodore of the fleet, and he was left to do as he pleased. The students were consulted in regard to their wishes. Dory had gone on board of the Silver Moon as soon as the Marian came alongside of the steamer, and had obtained from Bissell all the details of the capture of Paul, and the subsequent events.
The Sylph stood over to the town, and the three boats locked together for a conference. The first thing was to hear Dory's account of Paul's adventures. Then they decided to wait until the Sylph started for home, for they were filled with curiosity to know what might be done with the ruffians.
Just then they discovered that the Chesterfield barges were lying on their oars off the southern arm of Sandy Point. They had some curiosity, and doubtless were more interested than their rivals. All the boats retained their positions for over an hour, when the Sylph was seen to leave the wharf. In a few minutes more she had crossed the bay, and stopped her screw near the Marian. The eight-oar barge was ordered to come alongside the steamer, and Paul was taken on board.
Of course they could not separate until the students had heard the news from Westport. In a few words the spare hand informed them that a warrant had been issued on the testimony of Paul and Bissell, and the six ruffians had been committed to the lockup. They were to be examined the next day, and the witnesses were duly summoned. In the presence of the magistrate Buck Lamb had broken down, and he declared that they had been employed by Major Billcord to capture Paul for the sum of twenty-five dollars. Two of the others indorsed this statement, and the principal had procured a warrant for his arrest, which was now in the hands of the constable. Captain Gildrock had procured the services of the best lawyer in the county of Essex to look after the business for him.
The news from Westport was very satisfactory, and the question seemed to be whether or not a man who had money enough to pay the bills could outrage a poor boy with impunity. Captain Gildrock's blood boiled, though it did not bubble, or otherwise manifest its condition.
The commodore gave the order for a start, and in a short time the barges came up with the Chesterfields, though they were a quarter of a mile farther out in the lake. The Sylph was hardly moving through the water, the principal doubtless holding her back to see that no trouble arose between the two schools. He took the precaution to run the steam yacht between the two parties, and soon found himself within hailing distance of the Dasher, with Major Billcord in the stern-sheets.
The two gentlemen were somewhat acquainted, and had occasionally met on the lake and at the bank in Burlington. As the Sylph went lazily along, the captain discovered a white handkerchief hoisted on a stick, and saw that the Dasher was pulling towards the steamer. He rang his bell to stop her, and she awaited the pleasure of the barge.
"Captain Gildrock, you and I have always been good neighbors, though we don't live on the same side of the lake," said Major Billcord, standing up in the stern-sheets of the barge. "I feel it my duty to give you a friendly warning. I learn that a young scoundrel by the name of Paul Bristol, whose family I have charitably harbored on my land without the payment of rent, came over to Westport to-day with the students of your school. He is a young villain, and I warn you not to trust him."
"I had come to the conclusion that he was a very good boy," replied the captain.
"You are utterly mistaken, sir!" protested the major. "He assaulted both my son and myself, for which I intend to punish him in the severest manner. His mother and sister live on the point here, in a cottage owned by the woman; and the boy lived here before he went to Genverres, if he has gone over there. I warned the woman to move her house at once. She has not done it, and I shall tumble the building into the lake. It will make some sport for our boys, and I thought yours might like to see the fun, and learn a good lesson in the administration of human justice. I should be happy to have your steamer and your barges take position near the point, where you can see the proceedings."
Captain Gildrock made no reply, and the Dasher pulled away without waiting for any. The two Chesterfield barges ran their bows into the sand in front of where the cottage had stood, and the Sylph, after whistling for the Beech Hill barges to approach, followed the Dasher. The barges from the other side pulled to the entrance of the bay, and lay upon their oars.
"Now is the time for the fun to begin, and we are invited to see it," said Dick Short to Paul, who sat by his side.
"I think there will be some fun, though it will not be what Major Billcord and his crowd came to see," added Dory.
On board of the Dasher, Jack Woodhorn had risen from his seat, after he had given the order for the oarsmen to boat their oars. All the students were busy attending to their blades. Woodhorn was evidently looking for the cottage; but he did not see it. Then the magnate stood up; then all the students in the two boats stood up, and then both barges were nearly upset by this folly, and the coxswains ordered their crews to be seated.
"Did I understand you to say there was a cottage here to be tumbled into the lake to illustrate the administration of human justice, Major Billcord?" called Captain Gildrock, who had placed the bow of the Sylph within a few feet of the stern of the Dasher.
"I don't understand this," replied the magnate. "The cottage was here yesterday, and it was quite impossible for the woman to move it. Send the young gentlemen ashore to see if they can find it."
The young gentlemen could not find it. The site where it had stood was smoothed over as nicely as though the building had never been there. The major said it was a great mystery.
"No human justice to-day, then?" queried the principal of the Beech Hill school. "Perhaps divine justice had got ahead of human justice in this instance, as it sometimes does."
"Do you know anything about it, sir?" demanded the major angrily.
"The cottage was removed to Genverres by the students of the Beech Hill Industrial School last night," replied the captain.