"I can't do any thing with her," replied Tom.
"You have stolen her, as you have tried to do before," added the principal; "and we will make short work with you."
Paul Bristol was directed to take the painter of the sloop on board, and the Goldwing was towed to the Sylph. The six culprits on board of her were ordered to the deck, and they knew Captain Gildrock well enough not to disobey him. The quarter-boat was hoisted up to the davits; and the yacht came about and stood away from the shore without communicating with the picnic-party. She headed up the lake, and in a few minutes disappeared in the river.
Ash Burton and his companions observed the proceedings of the people of the yacht with almost as much consternation as though they had been captured with their late associates. They could hardly hope to escape the consequences of their conduct, for Tom and the rest of the Topovers would be sure to betray them. They looked upon it as a bad scrape; for the principal of the Beech Hill Industrial School was one who obeyed the laws, and went to them for redress when he was injured instead of administering justice on his own account.
Sam Spottwood was sorry he had not followed his own impulse to do right, instead of allowing himself to be led into error by his friend. But he did not reproach Ash, for he felt that he was the victim of his own weakness. The whole six of them were quite as repentant as the half-dozen who had been captured in the sloop. No doubt they made big resolutions, which are good things to make if they are only remembered in the hour of temptation.
The picnic-party seemed to be very much astonished at the proceedings of the people on board of the yacht, which was now approaching the river with the sloop in tow. Ash saw that they wanted some explanation; and when he saw the gentleman who had paid him the dozen half-dollars, he felt that he had business elsewhere. He beat a hasty retreat, followed by his companions. He did not care to appear before his late passengers as a culprit, and he was not inclined to tell any lies about the matter.
"We are in for it now," said Hop Cabright, as they walked with hasty steps away from the point, in the direction of the road to Genverres.
"No doubt of that," replied Sam Spottwood. "It is a bad scrape, and the worst of it is being associated with such fellows as Tom Topover."
"As Captain Gildrock did not catch us in the boat, perhaps he will not meddle with us," suggested Syl Peckman.
"Those fellows will blow on us, after all that happened this afternoon," added Chick Penny.