“Oh, you mean the cadets who used to travel with Brassy Bangs!”
“Yes. And let me tell you something—Longley Academy has lost over fifteen pupils during the past year; and of those, four are now enrolled at Colby and three more are trying to get in. So I guess all told we have the best of it.”
Jack had had no opportunity to ask Ruth the particulars of her father’s trouble. But he had promised to see the girl a few days later or call her up on the telephone, and then, he knew, she would give him more of the facts.
“Mr. Stevenson certainly looked very haggard,” he mused to himself. “He certainly must have something very serious on his mind. I hope it isn’t something that will affect Ruth. It would be too bad if he lost his money or something like that and Ruth had to give up going to Clearwater Hall.”
The strenuous happenings of the afternoon, along with the unexpected bath of Jack and the twins, made the Rover boys rather weary, and so they took their time at rowing up the lake to the river.
“There is no use of our hurrying,” declared Fred. “We won’t be in time for the evening parade anyway. And Colonel Colby said we could take our own time.”
“Just the same, I want to get there before the mess hall is closed,” declared Andy. “I’m about famished.”
“Don’t say a word about being hungry!” returned his twin. “I wish we had bought some doughnuts, or something like that, before we left town.”
“I’m sure Captain Dale will allow us something to eat even if the mess hall is closed,” declared Jack. Captain Dale was one of their military instructors and the official who took charge of the academy during Colonel Colby’s absence.
The summer day was drawing to a close and the sun was setting behind the hills to the west of Haven Point when the tired cadets reached the mouth of the Rick Rack River. Here there was a small island in the middle of the stream dividing that waterway into two rather narrow channels.