"Here is a letter from a gentleman who was here to see me yesterday; and, as it explains a great mystery, I will read a portion of it to you, as it relates to the sinews of the late cruise of the Lily. 'On my return from Beech Hill last evening, I went to the office of the Van Ness House to pay my bill, for I intended to go home by the evening train; but I found I had not a dollar in my pocket. I had a roll of bills in my vest-pocket, which, to the best of my remembrance, contained sixty dollars. I have not the least idea where I lost it. Possibly, I dropped it in your grounds. If so, and you happen to find it, please give me credit for the amount, or send a check to me at my residence; for I borrowed enough to get home with.'
"Now, thanks to the honesty of Captain Topover, late commander of the Lily in her cruise to, but not from, Cannon's Point, I am enabled, to return this money to its rightful owner," continued the principal. "It has been placed in my hands for safe keeping, and I did not expect to find the owner of it so soon."
"Who placed it in your hands for safe keeping?" asked Tom, rather impudently.
"I think we will follow your example,—sail under sealed orders, and keep our own counsel," replied Captain Gildrock. "At any rate, none of the money will be spent for theatre and circus, and none for hotel-bills on our account."
The students laughed heartily at the discomfiture of Tom Topover. Captain Gildrock had told the three penitents not to mention the manner in which the money had been obtained, or that they had handed it to him. He did not care to have Tom pick a quarrel with Bent on account of it. This part of the adventure remained concealed from all, and Tom could not explain it; though he suspected that his three renegade companions had done some things which they did not explain.
The students went to their studies, and the rebels were surprised that nothing more was said to them. The only penalty to which they were subjected was that the windows were covered with bars again, in the rooms of Tom, Nim, and Jack Dumper. The others were truly sorry for the part they had played in the scrape, and no punishment awaited them. But the ridicule to which the three guilty ones were subjected, proved to be a very salutary medicine for their complaint.
"You went back on me, Bent Fillwing," said Tom Topover, in the evening, when they were alone on the lawn.
"And you went back on the whole of us," retorted Bent.
"I did? Not a bit of it! If you hadn't deserted me, I would have done all I promised. What do you mean by saying that I went back on you? Tom Topover never went back on any fellow in his life."
"Bosh!" sneered Bent. "When you got sleepy, you anchored the schooner and went to sleep. I call that going back on us in the worst possible manner. You haven't brains enough to manage any affair, Tom Topover. You are as vain as a bantam rooster, and you put on airs enough to fit out a sergeant at a country muster."