“How did that happen?”
“Why didn’t you fish it up again?”
Thereupon there was wild excitement, and the cadets began to crowd closer to those who were just landing. The boys kept coming up until at least fifty of the Colby Hall pupils were assembled. Then, seeing the unusual crowd, Captain Mapes Dale, the chief military instructor of the institution, strode forward hastily.
“A steam yacht ran into us and nearly bowled us over,” said Randy.
Then all the boys who had come across the lake with Pud Hicks tried to explain at once. Numerous questions were asked and answered and a dozen lads became wildly excited.
“Why didn’t you have the owner of the Jocelyn arrested?” questioned Walt Baxter.
“He ought to have been tarred and feathered,” came from Bart White.
“Gosh! I’ll bet you fellows will catch it for losing that trophy,” came from a thin boy who had weak, shifty eyes and an unusually broad mouth. His name was Henry Stowell and he was generally known as the sneak of the school.
“It wasn’t our fault, Codfish,” answered Fred, calling the sneak by the nickname which was often applied to him. “The other boat headed directly for us. If Pud Hicks hadn’t acted quickly our boat might have been cut in two and some of us might have been killed.”
“Humph! that’s easy enough for you to say,” sneered Stowell. “If you could save yourselves, as you did, I don’t see why you couldn’t save the vase.”