Captain Gildrock had already directed Dory and Paul to prepare the four rooms indicated for the reception of the new pupils. They were furnished with good beds, and were far more luxurious than the rooms the ruffians occupied at home.
"I'm not going with you!" yelled Tom angrily. "I am going home, and you haven't any right to keep me here!"
Captain Gildrock did not wait to hear any more. He took Tom by the collar with his right hand, while he grasped Nim Splugger with the other. Tom lay down upon the deck, and refused to move; but this made no difference to the stalwart principal, who dragged him along as though he had been nothing but a small parcel.
Nim Splugger always followed his leader, and he lay down also; but both of them were dragged to the forward gangway, where the principal dropped them. Dory and Paul, having put the rooms in order, had come to the wharf. But the captain would not employ any pupil to assist in managing another. Tom lay upon the deck, too obstinate to get up; and Nim pursued the same policy.
The principal took a rope, and tied the hands of Tom behind him, and then made him fast to a stanchion. Taking Nim by the collar, he led or dragged him to the dormitory, where he locked him into his room. The engineer and the deckhand did as much for Pell Sankland and Kidd Digfield. Each was crowded into a room by himself, and left to his own reflections.
They returned to the steamer to dispose of Tom. In spite of his struggles, he was taken to his room. He fought, kicked, and tried to lie down; but, in the hands of two men, he was utterly powerless. As soon as he was in the apartment assigned to him, the principal removed the cord that bound his hands behind him.
"This will be your room for the future," said Captain Gildrock, without a particle of anger or indignation in his tones or his looks.
"I'm not going to stay here! I want to go home!" protested Tom, so mad that he could not help crying like a great baby.
"This is your home, and you will stay here," added the principal gently.
"I tell you I won't stay here! I don't belong to your school, and you have no right to keep me here!" howled the chief ruffian.