“What will the superintendent do to you when you go back?” asked Coleman.
“Oh, he’ll court-martial us and stop our liberty,” replied Jones. “But we don’t care for that, you know. We intend to have so much fun to-night at the party that we can afford to stay in camp during the rest of the month.”
Jones did not think it best to tell Coleman that he and his companions stood a fine chance of being expelled from the academy to pay for this night’s work. He was afraid that if he did, the man would refuse to assist them in their scheme, and that he would come about and take them back to Bridgeport. If he had tried that, there would have been trouble beyond a doubt, for his passengers were bound to make themselves famous before they went back. They succeeded beyond their most sanguine expectations. It is true that they were taken to the academy under arrest, but they were looked upon as heroes and not as culprits who were deserving of punishment. They gave the students and everybody else something to talk about, but not in the way they had anticipated.
“The safest plan you can pursue is to leave the schooner out here in the river, and go ashore in the dory and see that the way is clear,” continued Jones.
“I don’t know of but one house in Windsor that is big enough for a party, and that’s Dr. Norton’s,” said Coleman.
“There’s right where we’re going,” said Enoch, at a venture. “We want you to go out there and look carefully about his grounds to make sure that Mack and his men are not in hiding there.”
“Why, it’s a mile from the village!” exclaimed Coleman.
“What of that?”
“It would take me an hour to go there and come back,” replied the man, “and to tell the truth, I am afraid to trust the yacht in your hands for that length of time. You might beach her, or a steamer might run her down in the dark.”
“You needn’t be afraid of that,” replied Jones. “Williams can take care of her. He owned and sailed a yacht years ago.”