"Oh, look here!" he yelled. "Here's the Bedlamites right onto us!"
And it was true. The captain of the rival school had seen what the Rockledge boys were about—or he had suspected it, seeing the smoke of Max Bender's fire.
He had brought out his whole crew, and the vanguard of Belden boys was now but a few yards from the shore of the snow-covered and embattled island. They were making the attack in silence, and hoped to take the garrison of the fort by surprise.
CHAPTER XXI
GIVE AND TAKE
Bobby was scared at first by his sudden discovery. Here the Belden boys were coming on the rush, and there was only a handful of Rockledge boys—ten in all—at the island, to stand the unexpected charge.
Hi Letterblair, the captain of the Belden School, was at the head of the charging column. He and eight of the biggest boys of Belden were very near the island already.
Directly in the rear of the vanguard were a dozen smaller boys with schoolbook bags over their shoulders. Bobby knew by the bulky appearance of these receptacles, that they were full of snowballs.
Some distance behind were the rest of the Belden boys, dragging sleds heaped with ammunition. The entire force of the enemy was approaching.
Bobby wheeled about, even before he cried out, save for that first exclamation of surprise, to look at the Rockledge shore. There was not another Rockledge boy in sight save those at the island.