"But there's not much snow to make any more," said Howell Purdy.
"We should worry!" exclaimed Sparrow. "We'll throw them just as fast as we can, as long as they last."
"No use in trying to throw so far," advised Bobby. "We have the advantage of them, anyway. They have to throw higher than we do."
Soon a shower of snowballs was flung at every head which appeared above the ramparts. Nor could Bobby and his friends remain in hiding all the time. If they did so, the Beldens would soon charge and rout them by the weight of superior numbers.
It was only by returning the enemy's fire with vigor and precision that the Rockledge boys held the fort at all. Hi Letterblair had ten or a dozen big boys massed to make a charge; Bobby could see that.
Therefore the young leader of the defending party urged his followers to concentrate their attack upon the captain of the Belden School.
"Keep them off! we've got to keep them off till Captain Gray gets here," panted Bobby.
"Hurrah! here they come!" yelled one of the smaller boys, suddenly.
Bobby shot a glance toward the Rockledge shore. Indeed, there they did come! With Captain Gray and the school flag at their head, the bulk of the Rockledge boys were coming across the snow-covered lake towards the island.
"Keep still! don't wake them up!" begged Bobby, before anybody else could cheer. "If the Bedlamites don't know they're coming till they get here—why, all the better."