"Shucks!" exclaimed Pee Wee, "you couldn't row up there alone, Bobby Blake, let alone tugging those four boats after you."
"Well! and he doesn't have to—see?" snapped Fred Martin, dragging on his cap over his red hair. "I guess two of us can do something." He grinned rather sheepishly at Bobby.
"Three," said Sparrow Bangs, briefly.
"Me, too," said the Mouser. "You can stay home, if you want to, Pee Wee. I'm going."
"Oh—very well!" groaned the fat boy. "You can count me in."
"And me! And me!" cried several.
In the end there were two boats full of volunteers who left the Rockledge boathouse, known only to the man who had charge of it, and rowed up to Monckton's farm. There they dragged the four Belden boats out of the mud, and towed them across to the island.
It was pretty dark, for there was no moon. The marooned youngsters heard them coming and began to shout, believing that it was a rescue party from their own school.
Bobby and Fred stood up and yelled to them to come down to the shore for their boats. There was a good deal of bandying talk, and the two sets of boys said some sharp things to each other, but they separated without a fight.
"They'll tell, of course, and the Old Doctor will make an investigation," said Fred, as they pulled for home.