"I'm not going around by the road," said Henshaw.
"Not on your life!" exclaimed Ben. "I'd rather go down to the river and walk over the ice."
It was finally decided to follow Ben's suggestion, and the crowd continued on their way through the brushwood until the Leming River was reached. They saw or heard nothing more of Mike Marcy and his hired boy, for which they were thankful. Reaching the ice, they set off at a dog-trot for the old boathouse.
"If we only had skates this would be fine," declared Dave. "But as we haven't any we've got to make the best of it."
"As the servant girl said, when she told her mistress that she couldn't make sponge cake because they didn't have any sponges," answered the senator's son.
"Say, that puts me in mind of a story about a——" began Shadow. But just then one of the boys put out his foot and down went the story-teller of the school on the ice. "Hi, you!" he roared and pulled the other youth on top of him. Then began a wild scramble on the part of both to see who could get up first, and the story was forgotten.
When the Gee Eyes came in sight of the old boathouse they were surprised to learn it was well past midnight.
"We'll have to rush matters," said Dave. "If we don't, somebody may report us, and the doctor won't let us off very easily if we stay out too late."
"Maybe we'd better postpone the other initiations," suggested Luke.
"Oh, no, go ahead!" cried half a dozen. "We are safe enough."